Jim Devine says:
>>If protecting union jobs is the only point, anti-immigrant &
>>pro-protectionist nativism is patently pointless. New immigrant
>>workers are more pro-union than native-born workers -- hence the
>>AFL-CIO's new stance. To survive, organized labor has to sign up
>>as many as it can, native or immigrant, legal or illegal. Many
>>foreign nations have higher rates of unionization than the USA
>>also. Since most trade & investment flow within the circle of rich
>>nations, one might say that it is the USA that is bringing down
>>labor standards of Japan & Western Europe by its cheap un-organized
>>labor.
>>
>>The best way to protect union jobs is to sign up & make all union members.
>
>Yoshie is thinking long-term, while it seems that Max is thinking
>short-term: one reason why the US labor movement is in such poor
>shape is that the AFL-CIO didn't try very hard at organizing the US
>South (at the same time that the leadership allied with the
>government against more militant unionists, who often turned out to
>be Communist Party members or other kinds of leftists).
Right. The logic of getting short-term advantages in the labor
market applies to all forms of exclusion, be they based upon
nationality, immigration status, political belief, religious belief,
gender, sexuality, education, or whatnot. The idea of working-class
solidarity is rooted in the necessity to think beyond the logic of
market competition (= competing against other workers, as groups &
individuals), the end point of which is atomism (= why not suck up to
bosses & snitch on "trouble-makers" to curry favor, hoping to beat
competitors [= fellow workers] & win goodies?).
>One reason why the late C�sar Chavez should be admired is that he
>made the effort to organize the undocumented.
Too bad that gains made by the UFW earlier have been virtually
reversed in the last couple of decades. Farm workers are stuck with
the same struggles.
>It seems to me, finally, that even in the heat of a strike, unions
>must reach out to find as many allies as possible. Teachers must
>reach out to parents, etc.
Especially given the rise of service and/or public sectors, yes
(though the same basically applies to agriculture & manufacturing
also).
Yoshie
