The Biz-Union Blues - The Future's Uncertain and the End is Almost Here
Power is an addiction like any other. At some point the behavior will reach its "bottom". At that point change will occur. In the end it will take time. Time for UFCW members to get involved and ask what they are prepared to do. Paying into the union gets you very little - a tax deduction at the end of the year. Being involved gets you results. Nothing is free. Why should this be any different?
(MFD contributor Loman Life)
Two hundred and fifty workers at Loman Distribution in Langley BC lost their jobs the other day. Their story is an indictment of business unionism, the union-management partnerships it spawns and of the malaise that is tolerated by the mainstream of labour. It comes complete with all the standard features: A concessionary deal triggered by a race for the bottom, a multi-year contract (in this case a 10 year contract), secret memoranda, "economic viability" of the facility written right into the contract, a further pitch for concessions (in the late 1990's), the closure announcement, the agony (for the workers) and the apathy (from their union). And all the standard outcomes: Workers treated as a commodity by their employer and their union, workers out of jobs, workers told to sit quietly by and let the Labour Board settle issues of fairness and justice. On their last day, as if to add insult to injury, a celebration of corporate profitability.
It's a familiar story but with one very big difference: These workers didn't take it sitting down. They refused to go quietly out the door to the land of dispossessed workers which, in the gospel according to biz-unionists, is what was expected of them.
They conceived their own campaign, wrote their own material, paid for a good deal of it themselves and even succeeded in getting some mainstream media attention (which their union says it - with all of its communications experts - can't get). Not content to sit back and let the LRB save them, they went to the people - they organized a banner campaign, leafleted stores that belong to the company that's putting them out of work through its greed, took the CEO (good Christian that he professed to be) to task. They worked tirelessly to get their message out. The honchos of their and other unions should be lining up to kiss their butts but instead the mainstream honchos are - nowhere to be seen.
Through their actions they displayed activism, solidarity and commitment under immense pressure and in the face of a desperate situation. Most importantly, they found a place to express themselves and they expressed themselves in creative and compelling ways that connected with thousands of other working people. On the MFD web site, they spoke openly, forthrightly and at length about their experiences, their hopes and the actions they were taking to stop their employer's assault on their livelihoods and their union's indifference about it.
They wrote articles, posted hundreds of updates and comments and even voted on the thorny issue of "to post or not to post" a controversial recording of their last General Membership Meeting. They spoke about what it's like to be a worker, what it's like to be a union member and what it's like to fight for what you believe in. They reached out to other workers. They reached out to the Canadian Labour Congress. They took corporate greed to task and made the personal political.Although the doors of Lomans warehouse are now shut, the story of the courageous and inspired workplace activists who worked there isn't over. These workers started something. They engaged each other and many thousands of other workers. They became leaders and that's important because it's from the disheartening events like those at Loman's that the union leaders of the future will emerge. All that is needed is a place for them to speak and be heard, to engage others who share their values and to turn thought into action. We're doing what we can to provide just that kind of place here at MFD.
Coincidentally - or not - a great deal of spirited debate took place and continues on our web site on the subject of union leadership. It's timely that this debate is taking place where and when it is, because many of the leaders of tomorrow will come from the ranks of the dispossessed. Working people cast off by their employers and their unions.
Over the weekend, a number of the MFD'ers who administer, moderate and maintain this web site engaged in some dialogue about the future of unions and especially the leaders of the future. Here's what we came up with.
Inexpensive and plentiful methods of communication combined with current levels of disenchantment will start a war on three fronts for working people. It's going to be workers vs. government, workers vs. employers, and workers vs. unions.
- Each front will require a different strategy and be fought by different segments of working class people.
- Larger industries, dependant upon the distribution of natural resources, will take on the government
- Retail, partnered with the general public, will slaughter employers in a lengthy and bloody battle.
- Workers will distance themselves from, and decertify en masse, the current crop of business unions and turn to younger and highly adaptable grass roots movements for representation.
Leaders will be shape-shifting, fast moving, adaptable to any environment. Lean mean industry stopping machines with one last bone to pick with the boomers before they fade into (a likely shameful) obscurity. Vengeful, they will seek reparations from the individuals that both created and destroyed this environment. They will be hip, anticipatory, and one step ahead of trends. They will be ruthless in their dealings and compassionate to their members' concerns.
Leaders will come from the same place they always came from; the shop floor. The leadership model will be completely new. Almost entirely based upon communication. A hybrid of sorts with literal transparency and accountability.
Globalism will be forfeited in favor of community. Industry won't get the hint till it's too late. The new communities will network and trade amongst themselves... globally. The sheer number and style of these networks will make it impossible for the .gov to regulate it with any efficiency. Capitalism will get a fresh, democratic, start... much to the dismay and dissent of the old-school.
They will burn! :D
I see unions as local or workplace collectives who share information and advice and physical support among themselves. These collectives will know more about the day-to-day operation of their own employers and the competition. They will understand how to help or hinder their employers. They will know the truth, so they will be less likely to be sandbagged by unscrupulous employers. They will better understand the connection between government activity and their workplace. They will be better able to sift through truth and propaganda. I see these collectives relying on each other for support in the likes of flying squads. They will be better able to communicate. They can have networks in place that can disseminate information to help each other and to "out" the activities of their employers.
Leadership is changing. Leaders must be able to see change, so that the Power Source can manage it. Tomorrow's Leaders will be open to greater scrutiny. As the Power Source gets more knowledge and information, they will demand more knowledge and information--from their government, their employers and from their leaders. Cheque registers will be online for any and all members to scrutinize. The Power Source will be able to ask a question from anywhere in the world and will expect truthful and immediate answers with hard evidence to back it up. Leaders will come from the ranks of people who work for a living. They may be the disaffected ones returning from the ranks of the oppressors, or they may be born of the Power Source. Some leaders may be elected on the power of their Internet presence. A lisp or stutter will not disadvantage them. What they know and what they believe will be their strength.
Today, the best lookin' best talkin' gets the job. In the future, a potential leader will become known on the Internet. What he or she says is recorded and they will live and die by what they say. They can't back out or lie to people (as some do today). When units are small, leaders are better chosen. To move beyond the small unit, a leader will have to demonstrate good deeds and activities. Those deeds and activities will be discussed and if the reports of good deeds are false or exaggerated, they will be exposed on the Internet.
We will always get the leaders we demand and the types we accept. If the current trend keeps going, we will demand more and more, and will accept only those with a high degree of honesty and ethics.
The leaders of tomorrow will not come from the current union bureaucracy. They will not be the favoured sons of current union presidents. They will come from the ranks of the disaffected and dispossessed. From places like Lomans warehouse for instance, where workers find their voice during times of great hardship. They will no longer be content to disappear into the EI line up blaming themselves for their misfortune. Once you find your voice, you find empowerment. These are the people who will lead the unions of the future. There are lots of them out there. They will take their knowledge into new workplaces where they will revitalize moribund existing unions or build new ones. Or they will be people who are currently working under crappy contracts who will demand more from their union because they will know that they can get more. They will no longer be willing to settle for less because they'll know they don't have to (web sites like this one will tell them why they don't). "The company needs a break" just isn't going to cut it anymore.
You will find a variety of different union organizations. Some will be large and some will be small but all will have strong local roots and organizations. Even those that are part of large organizations, will have very autonomous locals. They will cooperate and work together when it helps them but will also have a lot of autonomy when it comes to their own unique issues. There will be no more following the leader and buying up ideological packages. Dogma will be for the dogs. Members will decide what's important. Diversity of people and ideas will be a good thing not a divisive thing.
Computers will become as widespread as telephones and televisions are today. Almost everyone will have Internet access at home. It will be affordable and easy to use. Handheld web browsers will come into common usage, just like the cell phone is today. Remember, when cell phones first started appearing on the market, or desktop computers or fax machines? A lot of people never thought they'd come into wide usage. Look at them now. Working people will be able to communicate with each other via these handheld things. It'll be really great at a GMM or at those corporate rah-rah meetings. People will be able to share their views and their reactions in real time. They'll be able to send messages (just we do on email) like "What a bunch of crap. The real story is...." or "I'm not voting for that bullshit contract" or "ask the CEO about the record profits the company reported last month". The world will never be the same.
All union members will be connected electronically. If they have a problem, a hologram business agent or lawyer will visit them in the lunchroom or at home. The average member will be able to meet with the manager and have instant access to information. If the manager says, I demand that you work with unsafe equipment; the member will have accurate information citing the law. Members will be able to record and store their own thoughts and events as they happen. When managers try to tell a different story, the member will have airtight evidence of what was really said and what happened. Members will no longer try to snow the union and managers won't be able to lie and cheat regarding events with employees. With information available, the Power Source will be able to instantly check the validity of what a union rep or mediator or lawyer is telling him or her.
Turning to the service model of unionism was a great mistake. When you hire servants and have no way of monitoring them, they rule and then oppress you by making you believe that you are powerless without them. In many senses, you that is self-fulfilling outcome. I think the availability of information on the Internet has taken away the mystique of doctors and as a result many patients have taken control of their own medical care. A similar thing will happen with unions, however, it may be more profound. You don't need eight years of graduate and post-graduate studies and experience to operate in the labour relations realm. The more competent the Power Source becomes, the better able they will be to demand that legislation favour them or at least take them into account as a participant in labour relations.
The Internet is a major factor in the future of unions. This is a whole new frontier for communication between and among people. Its implications are as significant as those of the printing press. The availability of Internet communication to working people is going to shift the floor at the workplace and in the house of labour. Knowledge is power and the net is making knowledge - in large heaping piles - readily accessible to the Power Source. The ability to communicate among ourselves - without the censoring and spinning of intermediaries - is another enormous change-driver. Working people have never been able to communicate among themselves rapidly and widely. That's changing. One thing is for sure - there will be discussion and it will be about where we want to go. Once we've got a sense of that, there will be action. Web sites like MFD are only the beginning.
That there are many people out there who are skeptical about the impact of the Internet is only normal. Most of us are from the era-before-the-web. We are not used to this new freewheeling, wide open model of dialogue among working people. We were brought up in a culture where we sat back and listened to others and took their word for it. No more. This is only the beginning. When I look around at the generation of kids who are still in grade school, and see to what extent computers, electronic devices and the Internet are a part of their lives, I know change is just around the corner. What do you think is going to happen when they leave school and enter the workforce? Once you've grown up with it and you're accustomed to getting information and talking to whomever you want to talk to (and where they live, what they do for a living, and other factors like that are secondary), it's as part of who and what you are. It doesn't change just because your circumstances change. The generation that's coming up behind us is going to alter workplace relations and union-member relations forever. There's something that happens to kids who go on the net a lot. They are always seeking out information, they don't accept everything at face value - because there is a lot more information out there and they know that, and they don't seem to care about the superficial stuff as much (like where you live, what your parents do for a living, what kind of house you live in, what you look like).
I think that unions will change (some of them) in reaction to this demographic shift. On-line meetings, forums, referenda, elections will become a normal part of union life. Democracy will flourish with the availability of information and opportunities for dialogue. Unions will go there or they'll disappear. Let's face it, you can do your banking on-line, get a university degree on-line, book a trip around the world on-line, get medical, legal and other advice on-line, but you can't talk to your union on-line? You have to drag yourself several hours to a union meeting? Your union president talks to you by snail mail? Go on, nobody will want to join a union that is still living in the pre-internet era. Some unions will recognize this and will change. Others will just die. Still others will fold under the weight of scandals that can no longer be swept under the rug. New unions will appear on the scene. It's very exciting.
One other factor that is very significant is that of the new generation, very few will have any connection with the current mainstream labour movement. With union membership at an all time low in the US and declining in Canada (our stats are a little misleading - of the 30% of the Canadian workforce that belong to unions over 70% are in the public sector) there aren't going to be many people left soon who are wedded to current mainstream conceptions of unionism. Appeals to loyalty by mainstream leaders will fall on deaf ears. Nobody is going to be guilt-tripped into silence or conformity. Young workers will be a lot more discerning about which unions they join and will have a lot less reluctance about starting their own organizations. After all, all the information they will need to do so will be readily available to them on the Internet. They will be well aware of their power sources too. I just don't think these people are going to be into blindly following some suited-up dude whose hawking venture capital.
It's not just the younger workers who are going to make things happen. Let's not forget that those of us who are in our 50's and 60's, are the product of an era that saw immense social change. A lot of us are getting to that point where we're looking back and saying "OK, we bought into all that corporate shit and what did it get us?" The boomer population has had major impact on society at every turn. Many of the people working in all manner of jobs, at all levels within organizations had some radical connection and are about to rediscover it.
We need to consider what's going on in the world around us now and the effect that this is having. You have a growing disdain for the corporate mythology and that is evident on so many fronts it's hard to count them all. Then you have life-altering events like 9/11 which cause us to re-examine fundamentally what we're all about, what is our mission, what kind of footprint do we want to leave on this earth - those kinds of deep questions. The impact of 9/11 is, I think, still not entirely evident. People are just starting to emerge from the fog. We are more keenly aware of the brevity of life, the connectedness of things and the relationship between people, environment, communities. Going out and making a living so that you can buy a lot of stuff will for a growing number of people cease to be the answer to the question "why am I here".
The consciousness shift that we have said will be needed to help working people engage the future has already begun and will continue - you can't stop these things once they've started. It's evolution.
What our Contributors had to say about leadership, high-tech shit and the future:
Licatsplit
The "Water Hole" concept is right on target as far as I'm concerned. To me MFD is a supportive think tank of sorts which is supported by many intelligent individuals who share their knowledge and experience for all to utilize as they see fit. The pillars as far as I'm concerned are the 291 members who have taken the time to become actively involved with the future of the many, many, oppressed people who daily are subjected to injustice. No doubt there are many leaders who post here at MFD. Some may be born leaders, others possibly are taught to be leaders, some are not leaders who think they are, and others are leaders who don't think they are. By participating in this forum, you are all leaders. Many times before I have thanked the contributors here at MFD for their support and honesty and I meant every word. Not being in retail, at times I feel out of place and hesitant about posting in certain threads and at times being a member of a trade union seems to place me out of the loop. I realize MFD grew out of the retail workers need to transform their existing conditions but I am thankful you opened the door for all. There are so many injustices within labor and business and we need sites like MFD. No doubt in my mind the site will change as time goes on. It must follow where the members lead. If there are leaders who want to build a labor movement,whether it be a reform structure or a brand new structure, I say get on with it and start building your pillars. I'm sure MFD will support your efforts. But just don't go muddying up my "Water Hole" with the dirt slinging tactics! It's much easier to destroy a structure from within than it is from the outside.
"What a Pity"
What a pity to feel the desire
and never see it manifested.
What a pity to see potential
and never see it utilized.
What a pity to hear the voices
and never hear the harmony.
What a pity to see the masses
always going their separate way.
What a pity to cry injustice
just to see your hopes fade away.
What a pity to know your rights
and see them given away.
What a pity to know the truth
and know it means little today.
What a pity I feel the need
to write such driveling.
What a pity or did I mention
the need for Solidarity?
Bill Pearson
There are lots of us out here who recognize the importance of a transformation in the labor movement. We need to become more aggressive, more membership driven, more focused on education and communication, with a clear vision on what the future holds for workers and how we can positively impact it. We do those things, and the labor movement will make that transformation to its once prominent position of speaking for the majority of workers in North America.
Weiser
Transformational leaders are fearless leaders. They are there for the Power Source and the groups they belong to. They are not there strictly for themselves, so they do not fear as much for themselves, their accumulated power and trappings of wealth.
They look at power as something to share with friends and to give away whenever and wherever possible. They teach and share knowledge.
Siggy
I can feel the bottom and the four sides and am waiting for someone to slam the lid down on me
Hard to read on if the lid is down and it's all dark 'cept for those that are packing the *carton*.
ed= Does this make MFD a transformational website as opposed to a reformational (is that a word?) site?
Am I a dissident renegade transformer? (I'll ask Brooke to change my union card).
John Doe
Now, if there was a self-help book of anti-leadership tips available, I might take a look at it. And if it's not available, I might write it. If anyone knows of the existence of such a book, please clue me in, because if it does exist, I don't want to reinvent the wheel, so to speak.
Having spent the past several months trying to un-leader myself, to my chagrin I have become entangled in a resurgent Borders union drive, and also an exploding RetailWorker.com.
I close with a plea, paraphrasing Henny Youngman:
"Take my sites, please!"
Scott McPherson
It's asinine to even suggest we don't need leaders. What world do you live in that you think we're ready for a leaderless society? That everyone has not only the ability, but more importantly the desire and discipline to lead? Leadership is about sacrifice and empathy, and quite frankly the overwhelming majority of people I meet every single day are so self absorbed it's pathetic. "what's in it for me"? and "when do I get mine" is about all you ever hear these days. "Minimum effort, maximum. reward" Give them a little power on top of that and look out! [see labour movement/enron/various dictatorships around the world etc]
Attitude is a reflection of leadership and it's been the lack to true leadership that has labour in the mess it's in. Each and every day unions should be building leaders. In fact as far as I'm concerned the biggest thing union leaders should be concerning themselves with is teaching and empowering their eventual replacements. "give a man a fish and feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime" The "box" or the framework of unions is not to blame for the current state of unions. You might just as well blame the death of that Police officer in Richmond on the car that hit him and not the kid behind the wheel if that's the logic we're going to live by.
The primary failure of modern unionism is the unwillingness of its current leadership to share the power of the union, because it's in direct conflict with their personal self interest to do so. Leadership is about sacrifice, and what exemplifies that more than teaching people to replace you? By empowering and educating their membership "leaders" are essentially sacrificing their own personal self interests [money, power, influence, affluence] for the greater good of the union.
It takes a hell of lot more integrity and fortitude to live that life than it does to horde all the goodies for yourself and get by doing as little as possible. Your only fooling yourself if you actually believe those types of people grow on trees. People need leadership and direction today more than ever and true leadership doesn't detract from individual empowerment. In fact it has the direct opposite effect because it's the fertile soil from which individual empowerment and responsibility can grow.
sleK
Unions should be building a framework, or "box" if you will, that will support a movement. We don't need individuals to speak for us. We need a soapbox of our own to debate and decide amongst ourselves.
A good union leader should shut the hell up and listen. Then act upon what s/he hears.
Even the crooked guys are getting their heads around it:
"Let me explain to you what's gonna happen," said Kukic. "These are the new people over there, they're very into hi-tech shit," he said, with a vast war chest to wage pro-union campaigns. "We investigate the owner, we find out who his mother was and father was, who he donates to... We go to where he lives, Scarsdale, screaming all over the neighborhood... These guys have big plans."
(From the Village Voice)