Association for Union Democracy

Jane LaTour, journalist, labor activist, and former director of AUD Women's Project, has a new book based on her long time support and study of women in so-called "non-traditional" jobs. For more information see the publisher's website.

"...the problem is that Rosselli's critics go beyond denouncing him for criticizing. They would make his very right to criticize illicit. And, because they are armed with organizational power, they would resolve the dispute not simply by democratic decision but by suppression. The irony is that they wrap autocratic intentions in the flag of a democratic "majority"...

AUD and our message of union democracy are more relevant today than ever. Within the last year, a broad discussion on the future of the labor movement and the role of union democracy (there has been nothing like it for decades) has erupted out of the labor movement itself. With more than 40 years of campaigning for democratic rights, with our board members who are experts in union democracy, with our Union Democracy Review, with our website, with guidance we provide for hundreds of unionists each year, AUD can contribute to that discussion as no others can. But we need your help.

From the May-June Union Democracy Review.

Thomas Buffenbarger, Machinists international president, dispatched his deputy to Bath, Maine on March 17 to change the locks on the hall of Local S6, then put the local under trusteeship, ousted the local officers, and took over negotiating a new contract. It was the culminating act in a long campaign to try to get this independent local under control. Routine. At worst, Buffenbarger might have anticipated the usual ineffective protest; but he could not have expected what followed: continued mass protest picket lines, an unfavorable local press, and powerful resistance in federal court...

From the May-June Union Democracy Review.

The convention is old news, but this detailed analysis of the issues and players should continue to be useful as the struggles within SEIU evolve.

• Did open letters from labor intellectuals and student labor support groups stop the trusteeship of UHW-West?
• Facing the imminent threat of a trusteeship, the UHW-W deposited $3,000,000 into a separate non-profit, tax-exempt fund [IRS code 501(c)(3)] independent of the regular local treasury but administered by local officers. What was that fund about? Why is the SEIU International pursuing legal claims against it?
• What were the rival platforms at the convention?
• What are the implications of the passage of the International's program?
• What are the implications for union democracy in SEIU?

From the May-June Union Democracy Review.

More than ten years ago, Cathy Hackett and Jim Hard were elected the top leaders of SEIU Local 1000. One of the early supporters of their democratic reform movement was Alex Hernandez. Since then, relations have changed drastically. In elections for the local's 61 delegates to the SEIU convention, an opposition group, led by Hernandez, contested 49 slots and won 33, a clear majority....Hackett and Hard are strong supporters of Andy Stern, SEIU president; Hernandez backs the opposition platform of Sal Rosselli's United Healthcare Workers-West...

From the May-June Union Democracy Review.

In each issue of Union Democracy Review we publish "shorts" -- stories that are too short for a feature, but too important to leave out. We put this issue's shorts online to give you a sample: Photocopying hiring hall records; "Harbor Herald" reformers win in ILA 333; Peace pipe for Nurses and SEIU?; Trouble in Philadelphia IBEW Local 98; and in Operating Engineers Local 825, Newark; Administration spies on challengers in Machinists District Lodge 751.

By Herman Benson

An angry battle in Ohio between the Service Employees [SEIU] and the California Nurses Association [CNA] calls attention to a proposed new regulation by the National Labor Relations Board that would make it easy for consenting employers to accept, or even welcome, unionization without disturbing their workers with a hostile, confrontational campaign....No drawn-out battle, no hard feelings provoked, no enthusiasms inspired.

...In these parlous times, when unions fight to hold their own, when the need to organize the unorganized is so urgent, the new NLRB system seems like a union leader’s dream. Could anything be wrong?

"The board still has plenty of work to do. Its 150th report in December, stated that 85 calls had been received on its hot line since the previous report... Among the new cases, two members of Local 743 are charged with failing to appear for an examination before the IRB. This is the Chicago local whose secretary treasurer and three former employees had been indicted in September on criminal charges of stealing a union election..."

"...In January last year, Rosselli criticized as "company unionism" a deal negotiated by Stern with California nursing homes. In January this year, Rosselli refused to participate in the election of officers of the 650,000-member SEIU California State Council, or to run for reelection as its president, accusing Stern of rigging the process to guarantee the success of his own handpicked choices. Now, as the SEIU convention looms in May, Rosselli's resignation ratchets the conflict up several notches."

AUD is looking for volunteers to help migrate content to the new AUD website, which is in development. Familiarity with Drupal a plus, but not required. Contact Matt Noyes at info(at)uniondemocracy.org.

From the February 2008 issue of The $100 Plus Club News #109 By James McNamara "Local 157 is affiliated to the New York Carpenters District Council where corruption, and even murder, had been a problem for decades. A 1994 federal consent decree aimed to "rid the union of corruption-that is, the corruption that allows contractors to run 'cash jobs' that deprive carpenters of their benefits and fair pay... and that is used to and opens the door to organized crime." In 2002, the judge concluded that abuses continued; he modified the decree to permit the appointment of a court-approved independent investigator. But nothing seemed to work out..."

AUD recently interviewed John Martin, Columbia School of Journalism Professor, Former ABC News Reporter. "John Martin has won several prestigious awards for reporting over his 45-year career...He is actively interested in the labor movement and union democracy. He teaches a weekly seminar called "Fault Lines," which is also the name of the labor-oriented journal written by the seminar's students."