From shostaka@duvm.ocs.drexel.edu Tue Sep 17 19:11:13 1996 Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 21:35:43 -0500 To: LABOR-RAP@csf.colorado.edu From: shostaka@duvm.ocs.drexel.edu (Art Shostak) Subject: Request for info help Brothers and Sisters: A national trade newspaper focused on the nation's food service industry (food supermarkets, etc.) wants to run a series of feature stories on union leaders around the country who are linked in "win-win" cooperative relationships with food industry employers with whom they have labor contracts. Please e-mail the names, address, and phone number of ANY local union leaders you think qualified for publicity of this sort. Many thanks, Art Shostak. Arthur B. Shostak, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology, Drexel University Phila., PA, 19104; 215-895-2466; fax 610-668-2727. "If you don't feel totally confused about what is going on, you're out of touch!" Tom Peters From dcroteau@saturn.vcu.edu Wed Sep 18 09:15:43 1996 Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 11:14:22 -0400 To: labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu From: dcroteau@saturn.vcu.edu (david croteau) Subject: Greetings Greetings and, once again, welcome to the LABOR-RAP discussion list. Information about the list has begun to circulate this week, so people are just now beginning to subscribe. The fact that you are reading this indicates that you're among the first few dozen subscribers. (I bet you didn't know you were a cutting edge trend-setter! ;-) I'm writing to welcome you, to encourage you to begin posting to the list (labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu), and to request your patience in the coming weeks. As people gradually join us during this start-up period we may be repeating ourselves a few times in order to get people up to speed. In fact, you will see some version of this message posted to the entire list a few times in the coming weeks. Thanks to Dan Clawson for the ASA minutes which you all should have received along with the notice about this list. We'll be re-posting those minutes to the list later to make sure new subscribers have them. Finally, be sure to encourage others who might be interested to subscribe. An e-mail notice about the list went out to about 100 people whose addresses we had, but I'm sure there are many more potential subscribers. I look forward to some useful discussions! ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| David Croteau Sociology/ Virginia Commonwealth University E-mail: dcroteau@saturn.vcu.edu From tnr1@columbia.edu Wed Sep 18 15:54:12 1996 Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 17:54:03 -0400 (EDT) From: Thaddeus Russell Sender: tnr1@columbia.edu Reply-To: Thaddeus Russell To: LABOR-RAP@csf.colorado.edu Subject: Labor Teach-In at Columbia Below, please find the most up-to-date version of the program for the upcoming event, *The Fight for Americas Future: A Teach-In With the Labor Movement*, as well as an introductory letter about the event. PLEASE PASS THIS MESSAGE ALONG TO ANYONE YOU THINK MIGHT BE INTERESTED. In addition to the New York City event to be held on October 3 & 4, 1996, many regional teach-ins will occur around the country. If you, or anyone you know, would like information about attending, or helping to organize, one of these regional events, please contact Ernst Benjamin (ebenjamin@igc.apc.org). Also, if you will be teaching in the Fall, we ask that you (and your colleagues) let your students know about the Columbia confab. As a teach-in, part of the mission of this event is to introduce a new generation of student activists to the labor movement, and to help rejuvenate the labor movement with the new perspectives of young people. There is no pre-registration for the teach-in. All teach-in sessions have limited seating. Arrive early. All speakers listed are confirmed; however, several workshops are still in formation. For the most up-to-date information about the teach-in, visit our home-page on the world-wide-web. Our address is: www.columbia.edu/cu/history/events/teachin/ Thank you. Jonathan Cutler, Staff Organizer jcutler@email.gc.cuny.edu ---------------------------------------- THE FIGHT FOR AMERICA'S FUTURE A TEACH-IN WITH THE LABOR MOVEMENT Committee for a National Teach-In Steven Fraser & Nelson Lichtenstein, Co-Chairs Phone: (212)598-5706/(804)924-6408 Fax: (212)420-5899 E-mail: Steve_Fraser@hmco.com For More Information, Contact Jonathan Cutler: jcutler@email.gc.cuny.edu Event Date: October 3-4, 1996 Place: Columbia University, New York Open to the Public. An event in cooperation with the AFL-CIO. Opening Plenary: Thursday October 3, 1996 7:30pm Low Library Chair: Eric Foner, Columbia University Speakers: John Sweeney President, AFL-CIO Cornel West Harvard University Betty Friedan Wilson Center for Scholars Patricia Williams Columbia University Richard Rorty University of Virginia Plenary Session #2: The Incorporation of America Friday October 4, 1996 9:00am-10:30am Altschul Auditorium, Intl Affairs Bldg Chair: Ira Katznelson, Columbia University Speakers: Katha Pollitt Writer Michael Lind Writer Linda Chavez-Thompson Executive Vice-President, AFL-CIO Orlando Patterson Harvard University Joel Rogers University of Wisconsin, Madison Morning Workshops Friday October 4, 1996, 11:00am-12:30pm 1. Globalization & the American standard of living Location: Intl Affairs Building, Rm. 410 Convener: Steve Fraser Participants: Bennett Harrison, New School for Social Research Ron Blackwell, Corporate Affairs, AFL-CIO Joel Rogers, University of Wisconsin, Madison 2. Politics and the future of the labor movement Location: Intl Affairs Building, Rm. 404 Convener: Mike Kazin Participants: Ruy Teixeira, Economic Policy Institute Ronald Walters, Howard University Mark Erlich, Carpenters Local #40 Elaine Bernard, Harvard Trade Union Program 3. Labor and immigration Location: Hamilton Hall, Rm. 302 Convener: Gary Gerstle Participants: Katie Quan, UNITE Philip Kasinitz, Sociology, Hunter College Maria Ontiveros, Golden Gate Law School Patricia Fernandez Kelly, Sociology, Johns Hopkins 4. Working families on the fault-line Location: Hamilton Hall, Rm. 303 Convener: Joan Williams Participants: Lillian Rubin, University of California, Berkeley Guy Molyneux, Peter Hart Research Association Joan Williams, American University Law School 5. Organizing the university Location: Intl Affairs Building, Rm. 411 Convener: Richard Boris Participants: Wells Keddie, AAUP Kathy Newman, GESO Activist, Yale University Kris Rondeau, University Organizing, AFSCME Maida Rosenstein, UAW Local 2110 (Barnard) 6. Culture, Identity, and Class Politics Location: Intl Affairs Building, Rm. 403 Convener: Nelson Lichtenstein Participants: Todd Gitlin, New York University Robin Kelley, New York University Jo-Ann Mort, UNITE Jerry Hudson, 1199 7. The Wages of Race: Unions and Racial Justice Location: Intl Affairs Building, Rm. 413A Convener: Tom Sugrue Participants: David Roediger, University of Minnesota Derrick Bell, New York University Mae Ngai, Asian Pacific Am. Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO Michael Eric Dyson, Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 8. Labor and the law (cosponsored by the CENTER FOR PUBLIC INTEREST LAW, Columbia Univ. School of Law) Location: Jerome Greene Lounge Convener: David Abraham Participants: Karl Klare, Northeastern University Willie Forbath, Texas/UCLA Larry Englestein, AFL-CIO Katherine Stone, Cornell Law School Afternoon Workshops Friday October 4, 1996, 2:00pm-3:30pm 9. Intellectuals and the labor movement Location: Intl Affairs Building, Rm. 403 Convener: Norman Birnbaum Participants: Bob Welch, Assistant to the President, AFL-CIO Tom Geoghegen, labor lawyer & writer Paul Berman, writer 10. Work, welfare, and the labor movement Location: Hamilton Hall, Rm. 302 Convener: Josh Freeman Participants: Katherine Newman, Harvard University Bill Fletcher, Education Dept., AFL-CIO Herb Gans, Columbia University 11. Union Summer & A New Generation of Organizers Location: Intl Affairs Building, Rm. 410 Convener: Kevin Pranis Participants: Sarah Potter, student, Columbia University Andy Levin, Director, Union Summer Johanna Marquina, student, CUNY Staten Island Valerie McCrory,Yale Student Labor Action Coalition 12. African Americans and the Labor Movement Location: Intl Affairs Building, Rm. 413A Convener: Leith Mullings Participants: Jerry Hudson, 1199 Betty Hugley, 1199 13. Organizing Women Location: Intl Affairs Building, Rm. 411 Convener: Joan Williams Participants: Marion Crain, Univ. of North Carolina Law School Chris Woods, Organizing Department, AFL-CIO Donene Williams, Harvard Union of Clerical & Technical Workers, AFSCME 14. Professional & Technical Workers Location: Hamilton Hall, Rm. 301 Convener: Stanley Aronowitz Participants: Tom Dawes, Local 375, AFSCME Ernst Benjamin, AAUP John Ronches, Committee of Interns and Residents 15. Are Labor's Values (Still) Everyone Else's? Location: Hamilton Hall, Rm. 303 Convener: Ronald Aronson, Wayne State University Participants: Jerry Deneau, Graphics Communications Intl. Union Lewis Gordon, Brown University Heidi Hartmann, Inst. for Womens Policy Studies 16. Organizing in the Global Economy Location: Intl Affairs Building, Rm. 405 Convener: Mark Levitan Participants: Wilfredo Larencuent, UNITE William Milberg, New School for Social Research Barbara Shailor, International Affairs, AFL-CIO Pharis Harvey, International Labor Rights Federation Closing Plenary Session: Organizing the Unorganized Friday October 4, 1996 4:00pm-6:00pm Altschul Auditorium, Intl Affairs Bldg Chair: Manning Marable, Columbia University Speakers: Richard Trumka Sec.-Treasurer of the AFL-CIO Karen Nussbaum Womens Department, AFL-CIO David Montgomery Yale University Jose La Luz Intl Area Director, AFSCME Frances Fox Piven City University of New York --------------------------------------------------------------- End of Program For More Information, Contact: Jonathan Cutler jcutler@email.gc.cuny.edu Or, visit our home-page: www.columbia.edu/cu/history/events/teachin/ ******************************************************** Welcome Letter... THE FIGHT FOR AMERICA'S FUTURE: A TEACH-IN WITH THE LABOR MOVEMENT Committee for a National Teach-In Steven Fraser & Nelson Lichtenstein, Co-Chairs Phone: (212)598-5706/(804)924-6408 Fax: (212)420-5899 E-mail: Steve_Fraser@hmco.com Event Date: October 3 -4, 1996 Place: Columbia University, New York In an historic convocation this fall many of America's leading academics and intellectuals will raise their voices on behalf of the labor movement when they join ranks with top union officials at a Columbia University "teach-in" October 3 and 4. This event confirms the commitment of intellectuals and activists within the labor movement to the formation, renewal, and intensification of the bonds between labor unions, academics, and students. Please join us for this historic event. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney will share the podium on Thursday evening, October 3 with feminist author Betty Friedan, Harvard theologian Cornel West, University of Virginia philosopher Richard Rorty, Columbia University historian Eric Foner, and Columbia University law professor Patricia Williams. Speaking for the labor federation, President Sweeney has declared, "We welcome the support of these distinguished teachers and writers who we think are the natural allies of working Americans in the many battles that lie ahead." To facilitate the transition from thought to action, the program for Friday, October 4 includes two plenary sessions and 16 workshops. Workshops will cover such critical subjects as: Globalization and the American Standard of Living; Race and the "Wages of Whiteness"; The Political Future of Labor; Immigration and the Labor Movement; Union Summer and the Next Generation of Organizers; "Families on the Fault Line"; Culture, Identity, and Class Politics; among others. Confirmed speakers include: Derrick Bell, Karen Nussbaum, David Montgomery, Michael Lind, Lillian Rubin, Katha Pollitt, Robin D.G. Kelley, Todd Gitlin, Ron Walters, Ruy Teixeira, Eric Foner, Ira Katznelson, Joan Williams, Elaine Bernard, Frances Fox Piven, Stanley Aronowitz, Tom Geoghegan, Bennett Harrison, Jo-Ann Mort, Jose LaLuz, Michael Kazin, and many others. "The Fight for America's Future: A Teach-In with the Labor Movement" will address the critical questions of economic, racial, and gender inequality, social injustice, and political powerlessness which trouble millions of Americans. One vital way to accomplish a fundamental shift in the nation's priorities is by fashioning an alliance between a vigorous and democratic labor movement -- one actively dedicated to organizing millions of unorganized working people -- and the academic-intellectual community. The trade unions are facing their most profound challenge in half a century, and the union movement is undergoing a dramatic set of internal changes. John Sweeney and his associates seek a broad array of allies in order to redress the balance of power in American society, to move it away from the corporate boardroom and into the offices, workshops, and communities of American working people. Many in the academic community acknowledge that a progressive, multi-cultural labor movement may well be the kind of social institution around which they can rally. The teach-in has been endorsed by such eminent writers and intellectuals as Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., Lester Thurow, Derrick Bell, Barbara Ehrenreich, Jonathan Kozol, Michael Eric Dyson, Linda Gordon, Victor Navasky, Herbert Gans, Carol Breightman, Robert Kuttner, Paul Berman, Sean Wilentz, Alan Brinkley, Mary Gordon, Robert Bellah, Norman Birnbaum, Joyce Appelby, Richard Sennett, and Michael Walzer. "The Fight for America's Future: A Teach-In with the Labor Movement" will promote the engagement of a new generation of students by developing the organic linkages between economic injustice, on the one hand, and racial, social, and gender inequalities, on the other. Indeed, the teach-in is deliberately designed to represent the broad and diverse constituencies, issues and points of view that the fight for America's future entails. An American labor movement rededicated to the principles which once inspired millions promises to act boldly in the interests not only of its own membership, but of the vast majority of the American people. We believe "The Fight for America's Future: A Teach-In with the Labor Movement" can help catalyze a profound and enduring transformation in the nation's mood and purpose. There is no pre-registration required to attend the teach-in. The suggested donation for admission is $5 at the door. All are welcome and we encourage teachers to notify students about the event so that they, too, will join this effort. Instead of charging an admission we are asking you to help defray the costs of organizing this event. Please send a contribution in support of this teach-in. Checks should be made payable to: The Committee for a National Teach-In. Mail contributions to: Ellen Schrecker, Treasurer Committee for a National Teach-In 771 West End Ave., #7D New York, NY 10025 Join the teach-in effort. We hope to see you at Columbia on October 3rd and 4th. For the Steering Committee, Committee for a National Teach-In, we are Sincerely, Steve Fraser & Nelson Lichtenstein P.S. For the most up-to-date information about the teach-in, visit our home-page on the world-wide-web. Our address is: www.columbia.edu/cu/history/events/teachin/ From shostaka@duvm.ocs.drexel.edu Thu Sep 19 08:01:11 1996 Date: Thu, 19 Sep 1996 10:25:45 -0500 To: LABOR-RAP@csf.colorado.edu From: shostaka@duvm.ocs.drexel.edu (Art Shostak) Subject: F.Y.I. From: Art Shostak \ Internet: (shostaka@duvm.ocs.drexel.edu) Subject: Sunday Journal Dear Colleagues: So long as the newspaper strike continues in Detroit it helps the unionists there to know they have our support - and we can demonstrate this by subscribing to the unique national newspaper they publish on Sundays and mail out to people like us. A subscription costs only $15 for 3 months, and when the strike ends, any unused portion will be considered a contribution to meeting strike expenses. You can send your check to The Detroit Sunday Journal, Attn.: Mail Subscriptions, 3100 E. Jefferson, Detriot, MI 48207-5052. You will learn alot of value from this informative, historic, and engaging paper. Arthur B. Shostak, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology, Drexel University Phila., PA, 19104; 215-895-2466; fax 610-668-2727. ------- FORWARD, End of original message ------- Arthur B. Shostak, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology, Drexel University Phila., PA, 19104; 215-895-2466; fax 610-668-2727. "If you don't feel totally confused about what is going on, you're out of touch!" Tom Peters From shostaka@duvm.ocs.drexel.edu Thu Sep 19 08:41:02 1996 Date: Thu, 19 Sep 1996 11:05:29 -0500 To: LABOR-RAP@csf.colorado.edu From: shostaka@duvm.ocs.drexel.edu (Art Shostak) Subject: In case you missed this first time around The following is the schedule for the 1996-97 SoliNet Seminars. Please >pass it on to whomever you think might be interested. If you interested in >helping to organize more educational seminars in cyberspace >or conduct a seminar please contact me at the address provided below. We >especially need people who would like to organize services for Spanish and >French-speaking SoliNet members and services for women workers. SoliNet - the Solidarity Network - is a World Wide Web conferencing system designed for people interested in the labour movement. It is operated by union labour, owned by a union (the Canadian Union of Public Employees) and open free of charge to people interested in labour issues. > SoliNet will open in October, 1996, with a series of labour-oriented >workshops including: > >October 1 - November 30th, 1996 >LABOUR EDUCATION ON THE INTERNET > >This seminar is being organized by Athabasca University's Labour Studies >Program and will be taught by Dr. Jeff Taylor of Athabasca and Derek Briton >of the University of Alberta. The course is aimed at labour educators who >would like to learn how to teach on-line using the resources of the >Internet but is >open to anyone. > >Registration for this course will be limited. However, the course will be >repeated. > >January 6 - January 31, 1997 >LABOUR ON THE INTERNET > >This seminar will be lead by Eric Lee, the editor of "Workers' Education" >the quarterly publication of the International Federation of Workers' >Associations (WEA). Eric's book on Labour and the Internet is being >published in November, 1996. > February 1 - February 28, 1997 >THE INTERNET AND LABOUR IN THE THIRD WORLD > Jagdish Parikh will lead this seminar. Jagdish is one of the pioneers of >labour-oriented computer communications with extensive experience organizing >systems in the Asia Pacific region. Jagdish was project >coordinator of the Experimental Electronic Communication Project for Unions >and Labour Support Groups in Asia (1988-91) - a project of the Asia Monitor >Resource Centre. He is currently co-moderator >of the Internet mailing list, UNION-D. >March 1 - March 30, 1997 >TECHNOLOGY ORGANIZING > Marc Belanger is the head of the technology department of the Canadian Union >of Public Employees and moderator of SoliNet. He will be leading a seminar >on how labour activists can use their people skills to organize technology >in the work-place and in cyberspace. > April 1 - April 30 >LABOUR MOVEMENTS IN THE WORLD > >This seminar will be lead by Elaine Bernard, the head of the Trade Union >Program (TUP) at Harvard University. Each year the TUP brings together >unionists from all around the world to study and work together. When she is >not teaching Elaine is visiting and studying labour movements >internationally. Her seminar will provide an overview of labour movements in >the world. > May 1 to May 31, 1997 >THE RUSSIAN LABOUR MOVEMENT > Vassily Balog is the Deputy Head of the International Department of the >General Confederation of Trade Unions in Russia. The GCTU is an umbrella >organization of labour movements in Russia and other former Soviet Union >countries. Vassily will be leading a discussion on current developments in >the Russian labour movement. > If you are interested in attending any or all of these conferences >please contact: > Marc Belanger >SoliNet Moderator >belanger@web.net > > >SoliNet-On-The WEB will open in October 1996. If you decide you would like >to attend the conferences you will be sent a World Wide Web URL and asked >to complete a SoliNet registration form. > >Come join your friends on SoliNet. > > *********** > > > Michael Eisenscher meisenscher@igc.apc.org 19 Oakridge Street Mattapan, MA 02126-2811 [voice/fax] 617-296-8622 Arthur B. Shostak, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology, Drexel University Phila., PA, 19104; 215-895-2466; fax 610-668-2727. "If you don't feel totally confused about what is going on, you're out of touch!" Tom Peters From EIMER@ssc.wisc.edu Thu Sep 19 09:19:38 1996 From: EIMER@ssc.wisc.edu 19 Sep 1996 10:16:45 -0600 (CST) Date: Thu, 19 Sep 1996 10:16:45 -0600 (CST) Subject: Re: Labor Teach-In at Columbia To: labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu Just a note to impress on peopel how easy it is to create smaller versions of the Columbia Teach in. At the University of Wisconsin-Madison a group consisting of the Havens Center (an inter-disciplinary center promoting progressive scholarship), the Teaching Assistants Association (graduat student union), South Central Federationof Labor (local AFL-CIO Labor Council), WI State AFL-CIO, School for Workers (a UW extension dept.) and the Center on Wisconsin Strategy (a research center housed in the Soc dept) are hosting a teach in that will consist of 3 panels. Panel 1 will capitalize on Stanley Aronowitz's visit to campus. It will feature a 30 or so minute presentation by him, followed by commentary by either the President or Secretary Treasurer of the state AFL-CIO Panel 2 will occur the following day at 4 p.m. and will draw on a host of local talent (local professors, union summer veterans, the student action labor coalition, local union organizers) to discuss "New Directions in Organizing." Panel 3 will occur that night and will feature soc Professor Joel Rogers from the UW,the Secretary Treasurer of the Milwuakee County Labor Council, and either a state rep who has opposed our states welfare reform, or historian Linda Gordon. The topic will be something like "Labor's New Voice..." We're using the same title as the Columbia teach-in, "The Fight for America's Future: A Teach In with the Labor Movement." Pulling it of has taken all of two meetings, some volunteer time and limited resources from the sponsors to do publicity. All in all it's a low cost, hopefully high profile event that will mostly draw on local talent...It's the kind of event that I suspect many people on this list could organize with minimal effort. For what it's worth, Stuart Eimer From rross@vax.clarku.edu Thu Sep 19 09:20:09 1996 Thu, 19 Sep 1996 11:20:11 -0500 (EST) Date: Thu, 19 Sep 1996 11:20:30 -0400 From: "Robert J.S. Bob Ross" Subject: Oct. 3/4: Clark University Sweatshop Conference To: Labor List , World Systems Network , Progressive Sociology Network Organization: Prof. and Chair of Sociology, Clark University Memo To: Concerned Colleagues From: Robert J.S. Ross, Prof and Chair of Sociology Subject: Sweatshop Conference Date: September 18, 1996 On October 3rd and 4th we will hold a conference on sweatshops and the apparel industry here at Clark University. The main audience will be students in our International Studies Stream, but I expect heavy press attendance and other students as well. I am also making the event known to the Jobs with Justice group in the labor movement. The public is invited, as are all recipients of this message. As of my last conversation, with David Angel of our Geography School who heads the International Program and is funding the conference, there will be three panels on Friday the 4th, after Charles Kerneghan's opening speech which is scheduled for Thursday evening. The precise time will be available from Clark's switchboard at 793 7711. FRIDAY OCT. 4 PANEL I: Sweatshops in the U.S. (First time slot Friday morning) Conditions in US sweatshops: Ginny Coughlin, head of the Sweatshop Project of UNITE, the union of needletrades, industrial and textile employees. Causes of sweatshops in the United States: Robert J.S. Ross, Professor and Chair of Sociology Clark University Strategies for Change: Richard Rothstein, Economic Policy Institute PANEL II: Perspectives from Abroad (Second time slot, Friday morning) Speakers from or about the maquiladora and China. The international apparel trade: Ellen Rosen, Professor of Sociology, Nichols College PANEL III: The Politics of Consumerism facilitated by Prof. Cynthia Enloe, Government Department, Clark University -- Robert J. S. Ross 508 793 7243 Professor and Chair of Sociology fax: 508 793 8816 Clark University Rross@vax.clarku.edu 950 Main Street Worcester, Massachusetts 01610 From dcroteau@saturn.vcu.edu Thu Sep 19 13:11:20 1996 Date: Thu, 19 Sep 1996 15:09:33 -0400 To: Labor Research and Action Project From: dcroteau@saturn.vcu.edu (david croteau) Subject: Greetings+ASA minutes Greetings from the listowner. After being up and running for just a couple of days, LABOR-RAP already has over 100 subscribers. There certainly is some signficant interest out there! For the benefit of the new subsribers I am re-posting two items (apologies to those of you who have already seen this) : 1) parts of an earlier greeting, and 2) the minutes from the ASA meeting on academics and the labor movement. Once again, please bear with us as we get this show on the road! Thanks. ----------------------------------------- 1) Welcome to the LABOR-RAP discussion list. I'm writing to welcome you, to encourage you to begin posting to the list (labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu), and to request your patience in the coming weeks. As people gradually join us during this start-up period we may be repeating ourselves a few times in order to get people up to speed. In fact, you will see some version of this message posted to the entire list a few times in the coming weeks. Also, be sure to encourage others who might be interested to subscribe. 2) SUMMARY OF THE ASA MEETING ON "ACADEMICS AND THE LABOR MOVEMENT" by Dan Clawson MAIN RECEPTION The AFL-CIO Organizing Institute enthusiastically welcomed the creation of a Sociology Labor Nework. In response the OI sponsored a reception at the sociology convention in New York (Sunday evening August 18, 1996). We had told the AFL-CIO to expect 75 people; 200 attended. The attendance was only one part of the success; equally impressive was the enthusiasm of the audience and what the speeches indicated about the direction of the new labor movement. Frances Fox Piven noted that, like many of the participants in 1960s social movements, her views of the labor movement had changed over the years. Richard Bensinger, the AFL-CIO's Director of Organizing, talked about the ways the labor movement is changing. The labor laws need to be changed, and the AFL-CIO is preparing a campaign to change the laws, but labor can't wait for the law to be changed. Labor is adopting new and innovative tactics, even if that means organizing outside the protections of the NLRB. The labor movement, Bensinger said, must be more than just trade unions; people like us are a vital part of a rejuvenated labor movement. This is, he said, one of the two most exciting times in the history of U.S. labor. (The other, obviously was the 1930s.) What happens in the next few years will determine whether labor can be transformed. Both speakers emphasized that women, people of color, and low wage workers must be central to labor activities. That point was reiterated in comments by several sociology students who had participated in Union Summer. In addition to the reception, about 70 (?) sociologists had one-on-one meetings with Organizing Institute staff on Sunday and Monday of the convention. Both the sociologists who participated and the Organizing Institute staff were energized by these meetings. FUTURE ACTIVITIES After the main reception, a group of about 35 stayed for an additional hour to talk about next steps, ideas of things we can do either on our own campuses or through the A.S.A. What follows is my attempt to summarize some of the high points of that discussion, but I (Dan Clawson) did not take full notes at the time and may easily have missed some key ideas, so I hope others (whether or not they were at the New York meeting) will write in to supplement and extend these proposals. COMMUNICATION People felt we needed ways to communicate with each other. The first priority was creating an electronic list-serve. David Croteau volunteered to do so and (as of September 15) already has it up and running. Others suggested the creation of a Homepage (any volunteers?) and of a newsletter, or perhaps a series of regional newsletters, reporting about activities in various areas, and providing means to connect to other movements. STUDENT LABOR ACTION Organizing Institute staff -- especially Chris Woods, national recruitment director -- reported that a priority for the coming year is to build on Union Summer by creating Student Labor Action Committees (or SLACs) on as many campuses as possible. The lead in organizing these will probably be taken by Union Summer graduates, especially on campuses where there is a critical mass. But SLACs often need faculty advisers, and faculty can help provide resources, advice, contacts. SLACs will work on both national and local labor activities. A major national focus will be the Strawberry Campaign. Actions can also be mounted around international campaigns, mobilizing against sweatshops, working to build coalitions with community and religious activists interested in these issues. Where there are unions on campus, it is important to connect to them. And campus based personnel, whether students or faculty, need to reach out to Central Labor Councils and local unions. Perhaps not all of labor will welcome our participation, but many will, and it is important to make the effort. A professor in the Claremont College system, Nigel Boyle (a historian?), taught a public service course on organizing. Students enrolled for the course, attended a 2 day session taught by staff from the Organizing Institute, were matched with unions that needed student workers, and then worked 10 (15, 20) hours a week for the union while earning college credit. Others could also create such courses; we could share information about doing so. Lots of people do a "junior year abroad" as a broadening experience. We should each work to see that our campus offers a "junior year abroad" of working with labor in some kind of internship. In whatever we do, we need to be aware of and be sensitive to the existence of sectarian movements who are much less concerned about building the labor movement than they are about building their own sectarian movement, who will attempt to take over any group, who will disrupt meetings and insist the group focus on the agenda of their sectarian group. INFORMATION SHARING To the extent we have an active communications system, whether a list-serve or a newsletter, we can use it to share ideas. Some possibilities: 1. Share information about speakers -- who are good people to invite, people's experiences with different speakers, the situations for which they are most appropriate and where they might have more difficulty, ways of connecting with local labor. 2. Develop a labor film series at your college; we can share curriculum ideas, develop an annotated list of films and ways of organizing the series 3. Share information about research projects -- academics can report on what we and others are doing. Anyone could indicate what unions or other labor groups need done, of research that would benefit labor activities in your area. This could become a way for unions to get answers to pressing problems, or to get leads to who could answer, and for people to take on the most needed research. 4. Create a job listing service. For example, sometimes person A knows of a union or other labor group who needs an intern, but does not know anyone who has the needed qualifications and is interested; if person A could post the job, perhaps other students would be eager to apply for the job, or other faculty would know of interested students. 5. We should copy the conservatives: people could write generic op-ed pieces and letters-to-the-editor, and put them on a Homepage or list-serve. Other people could then download those, adapt them to their local area by filling in local names or examples, sign their own names and send them to their local newspapers. In general, whenever labor related material appears in the press (or should have appeared, but doesn't), write a letter to the editor about it making some pro-labor point. Conservatives and anti-labor people are much more visible and active than pro-labor people. Chris Woods of the Organizing Institute pointed out that when Time magazine did a good article on Union Summer, the next issue had several anti-labor responses, but no pro-labor statements. START AN A.S.A. SECTION Some felt we should create an ASA section on labor movements, and use that as a means to get a newsletter, be assurred of a session at each ASA meeting, regularly elect a set of officers who will be responsible for seeing that things get done, etc. (Coming soon on a list-serve near you: the pros and cons of starting an A.S.A. section.) ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| David Croteau Sociology/ Virginia Commonwealth University E-mail: dcroteau@saturn.vcu.edu From clawson@sadri.umass.edu Fri Sep 20 13:12:39 1996 20 Sep 1996 15:12:06 -0400 (EDT) Date: Fri, 20 Sep 1996 15:12:06 -0400 (EDT) From: Dan Clawson Subject: Re: Labor Teach-In at Columbia In-reply-to: <01I9NQBWQ9VGAEKXQC@ssc.wisc.edu> from <"EIMER@ssc.wisc.edu"@Sep> To: labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu Sounds great. I've been thinking along the same lines for here, but haven't actually done anything yet. Dan -- Dan Clawson work = 413-545-5974 home 413-586-6235 Contemp. Sociology = 413-545-4064 fax 413-545-1994 email = clawson@sadri.umass.edu consoc@sadri.umass.edu From ebonacic@wizard.ucr.edu Sat Sep 21 07:28:44 1996 From: Edna Bonacich Subject: Re: Oct. 3/4: Clark University Sweatshop Conference To: labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu Date: Sat, 21 Sep 1996 06:21:59 -0700 (PDT) In-Reply-To: <324164BE.6F3F@vax.clarku.edu> from "Robert J.S. Bob Ross" at Sep 19, 96 11:20:30 am Professor Ross, I'm very interested in your workshop on Sweatshops, since I'm both studying the apparel industry in Los Angeles, and working with UNITE here, on the GUESS? campaign. I'm hoping that Ginny Coughlin will try to recruit people to help with campaign, but just in case she doesn't, could I ask for your help? We are trying to develop student/community groups near all of GUESS's retail boutiques. The have about 70 of them around the country, all in upscale malls. We are hoping that local committees will "adopt-a-mall," and develop creative ways of communi- cating with the store and its customers about the sweatshop production engaged in by GUESS, and the efforts of GUESS workers to win a union contract. We can send people a packet of materials, including a short video, about the campaign if they want to help. I can FAX you a list of the store locations, if you think anyone would be interested. GUESS has four stores in Massachusetts: in Boston, Natick, Cambridge and North Attleboro. This could be a great student project, where the students learn both about sweatshops and how to combat them. We might even be able to send a delegation of GUESS workers to your campus if there is sufficient interest. If you want more information, either E-Mail me, or call me at (213)239- 6520, during working hours, or at (310) 391-2505 in the evening or on weekends. Thanks for any help you can give, Edna Bonacich P.S. I'd also like to see a copy of the papers from the conference, if possible. It sounds great! From emf0551@is.nyu.edu Sat Sep 21 12:28:54 1996 Date: Sat, 21 Sep 1996 14:28:51 -0400 (EDT) From: "Eric M. Fink" To: Labor Research and Action Project Subject: Guess? Campaign In-Reply-To: <199609211321.GAA02921@wizard.ucr.edu> I'd like to get a copy of the packet and video on UNITE!'s Guess? campaign, which Edna Bonacich mentioned in her recent post. By way of self-introduction, since I've just joined this list, I'm a former sociologist and soon-to-be lawyer with a strong interest and involvement in labor studies and action in both fields. Eric Fink emf0551@is.nyu.edu 358 Atlantic Avenue, Apt. 1 Brooklyn, NY 11217 Tel: (718) 858-4463 From ebonacic@wizard.ucr.edu Mon Sep 23 07:21:42 1996 From: Edna Bonacich Subject: GUESS? Campaign To: labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu Date: Mon, 23 Sep 1996 06:14:53 -0700 (PDT) Hi Members of Labor-Rap, I accidently posted a message to Bob Ross to the whole group-sorry about that. I'm a low-tech type struggling to stay afloat in a high-tech world. Anyway, I want to tell you a little about the GUESS campaign, and see if any of you are interested. GUESS is a giant jeans manufacturer in LA that uses multiple contractors to get its sewing done. UNITE began organizing in the entire production system in April of this year. GUESS has an agreement with the US Dept of Labor to monitor its contracting shops, so we were surprised to discover the extent of problems in their shops. Of course we expected poverty and no benefits, as is common throughout the industry. But we also found extensive homework, and the usual litany of non-payment of minimum wage, falsification of timecards, forced kickbacks to supervisors, etc. GUESS has retaliated to exposure of these problems with a "scorched earth" policy--by removing work from shops where we have strong evidence of viola- tions, or a strong worker committee--thereby throwing hundreds of workers out of work; by firing workers in its "inside shop," both getting rid of union sup- porters, and "warning" everyone else; by engaging in blatant Unfair Labor Pract- ices--like threatening to close if the union succeeds, bribing workers to quit union support, etc. GUESS has about 70 of its own stores--boutiques located in upscale "private" malls around the country. We are trying to develop support committees near each of these stores, where student and community groups focus on that store to get the message across to GUESS that we won't put up with sweatshops. The fact that the stores are located in these malls makes them a difficult target. After one or two leafletings you will be ousted by the security guards and threatened with arrest. Obviously this is an example of the erosion of "public space" in the US, and the limitation of free speech. We need to find ways around the limitations, to get people to know about what is happening, and to persuade them not to buy GUESS goods until the situation is cleaned up (with a union contract). GUESS is also sold in regular department stores, and there will be possibilities for actions around them too. For now, my job is to try to develop support committees around the boutiques--which serve as a form of "advertising" for GUESS, as well as a profitable way of selling their products. If you have any interest in this, please contact me, either by E-Mail, or phone at (213) 239-6520. I can let you know if there is a store near you. In solidarity, Edna Bonacich From emf0551@is.nyu.edu Mon Sep 23 08:33:10 1996 Date: Mon, 23 Sep 1996 10:33:08 -0400 (EDT) From: "Eric M. Fink" To: Labor Research and Action Project Subject: Re: GUESS? Campaign In-Reply-To: <199609231314.GAA08570@wizard.ucr.edu> On Mon, 23 Sep 1996, Edna Bonacich wrote: > GUESS has about 70 of its own stores--boutiques located in > upscale "private" malls around the country. We are trying to develop > support committees near each of these stores, where student and > community groups focus on that store to get the message across to GUESS > that we won't put up with sweatshops. The fact that the stores are > located in these malls makes them a difficult target. After one or two > leafletings you will be ousted by the security guards and threatened > with arrest. Obviously this is an example of the erosion of "public > space" in the US, and the limitation of free speech. While the U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hold that the First Amendment protects such expression within the confines of private shopping centers, some state courts -- notably California in the 1980 Pruneyard case -- have interpreted and applied state constitutional provisions more broadly. Thus, at least in some states, informational picketing in private shopping centers may be legally protected. Now, as a practical matter, mall security are likely to hassle and expell picketers regardless of their legal rights. But where state law does protect such activity, picketers will be able to challenge the mall's attempt to squelch protected expression, perhaps bringing added public attention to the campaign. A good resource concerning such matters would be the local chapter of the National Lawyers Guild. In solidarity, Eric Fink From lisaac@garnet.acns.fsu.edu Mon Sep 23 09:02:48 1996 X-NUPop-Charset: English Date: Mon, 23 Sep 96 11:00:41 EST From: "Larry Isaac" Sender: lisaac@garnet.acns.fsu.edu To: labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu Subject: RE: GUESS? Campaign In Message Mon, 23 Sep 1996 06:14:53 -0700 (PDT), Edna Bonacich writes: >Hi Members of Labor-Rap, > I accidently posted a message to Bob Ross to the whole group-sorry about >that. I'm a low-tech type struggling to stay afloat in a high-tech world. >Anyway, I want to tell you a little about the GUESS campaign, and see if any >of you are interested. > GUESS is a giant jeans manufacturer in LA that uses multiple contractors >to get its sewing done. UNITE began organizing in the entire production system >in April of this year. GUESS has an agreement with the US Dept of Labor to >monitor its contracting shops, so we were surprised to discover the extent of >problems in their shops. Of course we expected poverty and no benefits, as is >common throughout the industry. But we also found extensive homework, and the >usual litany of non-payment of minimum wage, falsification of timecards, forced >kickbacks to supervisors, etc. > GUESS has retaliated to exposure of these problems with a "scorched >earth" policy--by removing work from shops where we have strong evidence of viola- >tions, or a strong worker committee--thereby throwing hundreds of workers out >of work; by firing workers in its "inside shop," both getting rid of union sup- >porters, and "warning" everyone else; by engaging in blatant Unfair Labor Pract- >ices--like threatening to close if the union succeeds, bribing workers to quit >union support, etc. > GUESS has about 70 of its own stores--boutiques located in upscale "private" >malls around the country. We are trying to develop support committees near each >of these stores, where student and community groups focus on that store to get >the message across to GUESS that we won't put up with sweatshops. The fact that >the stores are located in these malls makes them a difficult target. After one >or two leafletings you will be ousted by the security guards and threatened with >arrest. Obviously this is an example of the erosion of "public space" in the >US, and the limitation of free speech. We need to find ways around the limitations, >to get people to know about what is happening, and to persuade them not to buy >GUESS goods until the situation is cleaned up (with a union contract). > GUESS is also sold in regular department stores, and there will be >possibilities for actions around them too. For now, my job is to try to develop >support committees around the boutiques--which serve as a form of "advertising" >for GUESS, as well as a profitable way of selling their products. > If you have any interest in this, please contact me, either by E-Mail, or >phone at (213) 239-6520. I can let you know if there is a store near you. > In solidarity, Edna Bonacich ******************************* Edna, Thanks for the information on UNITE. Please send information on GUESS outlets/stores in the Tallahassee area. Larry Isaac Department of Sociology Florida State University From GRENIERG@servms.fiu.edu Mon Sep 23 09:46:23 1996 Date: Mon, 23 Sep 1996 11:44:35 -0400 (EDT) From: Guillermo J Grenier To: labor-rap@csf.COLORADO.EDU Subject: Re: Clark University Sweatshop Conference Prof Ross and friends, The conference sounds great as do the responses to your intitiative. I am beginning the process of organizing a similar conference in Miami. Here the issues associated with sweatshop exploitation is kept underground by the strong enclave economy of the dominantly Latino workforce. We are working with unions and community groups attempting to shed some light on it. Keep us informed and please post the titles of the articles which we might request resulting from the conference. Guillermo J. Grenier Director/Associate Professor Center for Labor Research Department of Sociology/Anthropology From dcroteau@saturn.vcu.edu Mon Sep 23 09:51:02 1996 Date: Mon, 23 Sep 1996 11:49:37 -0400 To: labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu From: dcroteau@saturn.vcu.edu (david croteau) Subject: posting to whole list > I accidently posted a message to Bob Ross to the whole group-sorry about >that. Just a reminder: if you use the "reply" function available in most e-mail software (Eudora, etc) your message will go to the entire labor-rap list, not just to the person who posted the message. ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| David Croteau Sociology/ Virginia Commonwealth University E-mail: dcroteau@saturn.vcu.edu From gwolff@ucla.edu Mon Sep 23 11:42:21 1996 Date: Mon, 23 Sep 1996 10:45:06 -0800 To: labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu From: gwolff@ucla.edu (Goetz Wolff) Subject: Secure Messages (Paranoia Dept.) Edna - I've just started getting the LaborRAP e-mail exchanges--and yours are quite interesting about the Guess campaign. But... How much thought has been given to the balance between substantive content to be shared with colleagues of similar concerns on the VERY OPEN internet, and the [increasing] possibility that Guess [or their henchmen] aren't keeping a bead on the activities and plans of UNITE and it's supporters. I'm NOT arguing against sharing information, etc. Nor am I proposing a paranoid stance. Rather, I'm wondering if there isn't a need to develop some forms of guidelines and standards which address these matters. This is an issue which faces LAMAP as we move forward as well. -goetz gwolff@ucla.edu -or- goetzwolff@igc.apc.org (LaborNet) ==================================================== Goetz Wolff UCLA Mail Address: School of Public Policy & Social Research UCLA - 3250 Public Policy Building Los Angeles, CA 90095-1656 ------------------------------------------------- Urban Planning Department Office 5367 Public Policy Building (310) ???-???? / (310) 206-5566 (FAX) ------------------------------------------------- North American Integration and Development Center Suite 2381 Public Policy Building (310) 206-4609 / (310) 825-8574 (FAX) ------------------------------------------------- Off Campus Office: Resources for Employment & Econ. Development 1221 Olancha Drive Los Angeles, CA 90065 (213) 254-6369 / (213) 254-4405 (FAX) ------------------------------------------------- Home: (213) 340-8478 ==================================================== From robinson@edtech.mcc.edu Mon Sep 23 19:16:47 1996 Date: Mon, 23 Sep 1996 21:19:48 -0400 To: LABOR-RAP@csf.colorado.edu From: robinson@edtech.mcc.edu (Steve Robinson) Subject: Two Quick Questions... 1. The server www.iww.org appears to be down--anybody know why? I'm looking for an electronic copy of Ralph Chaplin's THE GENERAL STRIKE. 2. Does anyone on the list know of any past attempts to organize part-time community college faculty in the US? These folks, as you all must know, are terribly exploited, and the community colleges bank on the fact that they will never gain the solidarity they need to oppose the poor treatment they get. We are talking about orgainizing a strike on all 30 CCs in Michigan next Fall. The part-time faculty who are union members are not adequately represented by their unions, which are run by full-time faculty who benefit from the part-timer's exploitation. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// // Steve Robinson http://edtech.mcc.edu/robinson // // Mott Community College robinson@edtech.mcc.edu // //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// From meisenscher@igc.apc.org Mon Sep 23 22:08:17 1996 Date: Mon, 23 Sep 1996 20:42:55 -0700 (PDT) To: labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu, Labor Research and Action Project From: Michael Eisenscher Subject: Re: Two Quick Questions... Sender: meisenscher@igc.org At 09:19 PM 9/23/96 -0400, Steve Robinson wrote: > >2. Does anyone on the list know of any past attempts to organize part-time >community college faculty in the US? Steve: Joe Berry, currently at U. of Iowa Labor Center, represented part-time faculty in California before moving to the midwest. Contact Joe at joe-berry@uiowa.edu. Another informed academic unionist is Tim Sampson at San Francisco State University. (tsampson@sfsu.edu). In solidarity, Michael Michael Eisenscher Doctoral Candidate, Public Policy Program Univ. of MA-Boston New Address, Effective October 1, 1996: 391 Adams Street Oakland, CA 94610-3131 Phone: (510) 893-8382 (voice/fax) E-Mail: meisenscher@igc.apc.org From knowware@mindlink.bc.ca Mon Sep 23 23:06:39 1996 by web20.mindlink.net with smtp Date: Mon, 23 Sep 1996 22:11:39 -0700 To: labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu From: knowware@mindlink.bc.ca (Tom Walker) Subject: Late 1950's, early 60's labor history I am interested in the labor campaigns for a shorter workweek that emerged in the mid 1950s (in response to the introduction of automation and the recessions of 1957-58 and 1960-61) and seem to have largely died out by the mid 1960s. I would like to hear from anyone else who is studying this issue and time period. So far my sources deal only with U.S. unions, but I would be particularly interested in hearing of Canadian activity. Since this is a new list, I will re-issue this request from time to time, no doubt augmented by my own discoveries, interpretations and opinions. Regards, Tom Walker, knoW Ware Communications http://mindlink.net/knowware/worksite.htm (TimeWork Web) tel (604)688-8296 or (604)669-3286 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ "Only in mediocre art does life unfold as fate." - Michael Ignatieff From toddmatt@utkux.utcc.utk.edu Mon Sep 23 23:36:34 1996 Date: Tue, 24 Sep 1996 01:35:41 -0400 (EDT) From: TODD MATTHEWS To: Labor Research and Action Project Subject: NAFTA research In-Reply-To: <199609231314.GAA08570@wizard.ucr.edu> Hello all... my name is Todd Matthews, and I am a grad student in sociology at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. I am presently gathering source materials for my thesis, which I anticipate writing in the spring. The topic deals with transnational social movements, and how they are becoming major "players" in our contemporary struggles, especially with ever more globalizing TNCs dominating so much. For an empirical referent, I am going to look at the fight put on by several groups that were from each of the three countries involved in the NAFTA. What I am looking for is any and all papers, data, articles, theories, etc. related to NAFTA, and/or this emerging form of social movement. All thoughts will be appreciated! Please e-mail directly at the below address! Thank you, Todd Matthews Dept. of Sociology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN E-mail: toddmatt@utkux.utcc.utk.edu From ebonacic@wizard.ucr.edu Tue Sep 24 07:01:33 1996 From: Edna Bonacich Subject: Re: GUESS? Campaign To: labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu Date: Tue, 24 Sep 1996 05:54:52 -0700 (PDT) In-Reply-To: <39675.lisaac@garnet.acns.fsu.edu> from "Larry Isaac" at Sep 23, 96 11:00:41 am Hi Larry, Great to hear from you. There are a bunch of GUESS stores in Florida, but I need to look at a map to see which ones are near Tallahasee. I'll get back to you. Meanwhile, if you give me your full address and phone number(s), I'll send you a packet of materials and will call you to discuss the possibili- ties. In solidarity, Edna From dcroteau@saturn.vcu.edu Tue Sep 24 07:22:29 1996 Date: Tue, 24 Sep 1996 09:21:05 -0400 To: labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu From: dcroteau@saturn.vcu.edu (david croteau) Subject: NYTimes on Labor/Academics This was posted to the Progressive Sociologist Network. I thought it might be of interest to those of you who don't subscribe. New York Times -- September 22, 1996 LABOR LEADERS AND INTELLECTUALS ARE FORGING NEW ALLIANCE By STEVEN GREENHOUSE After a 30-year estrangement in which union leaders shunned academics as too far to the left and the liberal intelligentsia scorned big labor as part of the establishment, many academics are forging a new alliance with the revived labor movement. Academics are counseling students to become union organizers and are donating time to teach courses to union officials. Cornell University professors held a conference with the AFL-CIO on how to do more organizing, while many sociology professors are revamping their courses to focus more on labor's role in society. And in early October, several dozen academic luminaries will join union leaders at Columbia University for a 1960s-style teach-in intended to give the academic world's imprimatur to labor's new leadership and to explore how intellectuals can do more to advance the goals of organized labor. Similar teach-ins will be held at a dozen other schools, including the University of Wisconsin, the University of Florida, Eastern Illinois University, Wayne State University in Detroit and the University of Texas at El Paso. "We want to lend the support of a large number of academics and intellectuals to the revitalization of labor," said Eric Foner, a history professor at Columbia University who is helping to organize the teach-ins. "From our point of view, there is no real hope for progressive social change in this country without a strong labor movement, and without a strong labor movement the conservative tendency of things is never going to be reversed." The teach-ins are intended to draw the attention of students, academics, the media and the public. This labor-intellectual alliance puts an end to three decades in which liberal academics and unions were at loggerheads over Vietnam, Cold War politics and labor's foot-dragging on allowing more women and minorities into unionized jobs. In the view of labor leaders, this new alliance is important not just because historians, economists and sociologists might lend their brain power to organizing drives, but also because through their writings, intellectuals can change the public's perception of labor. And the alliance, which flourished in the 1930s, is being renewed as John J. Sweeney, the president of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, has broadened labor's reach by building coalitions with other segments of society, including the clergy, women's groups, students, environmentalists and Hispanic people. "As part of our effort to rebuild the progressive coalition in this country, it's important that progressive academics play a major role," said Robert Welsh, the AFL-CIO's chief of staff. This new alliance pales compared with the assistance that intellectuals gave labor in the 1930s, when they ran labor colleges and union newspapers and penned pro-labor polemics. But today's intellectuals promise that their support for labor will prove far more substantial than mere talk at teach-ins. "What we're talking about is not just a few intellectuals providing some ad hoc advice, but about some significant potential shifts in research time and thinking," said Tom Juravich, research director for the labor relations school at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Some conservative intellectuals heaped scorn on this new alliance. Roger Kimball, managing editor of The New Criterion, a conservative journal, called labor's academic allies "a rogues' gallery of politically correct intellectuals who have a very serious case of Marx envy." He added, "They are infused with an incredible nostalgia for a kind of political activism which they hope can infuse a higher purpose to their lives. They look to the '60s and to the '30s for models for this kind of militant activism, safe though they are in their ivied groves of academia." At a news conference on Wednesday in Washington, James A. Perley, the president of the American Association of University Professors, joined Sweeney to announce the group's support for the teach-ins. Acknowledging that their new-found friendship with labor is not altogether altruistic, officials with the association say they hope the AFL-CIO will back their fights to preserve tenure, win raises and reverse cuts in education spending. Academics are allying with labor at a time when professors at some elite private colleges, like Bennington, and some public universities, like the City University of New York, are facing some of the same pressures that other workers face, like downsizing and pay freezes. Perley said, "We've come to realize that we need to reach out to make connections to others who are experiencing the same kind of difficulties." Professors, writers and intellectuals say they have embraced the AFL-CIO's leadership because it is seeking to transform labor into a broad social movement, and, they say, because it is dropping its focus on helping the relatively well-paid union elite. Many academics say they are pleased that Sweeney has focused on organizing more workers and raising the wages of low-paid workers. "In the 1930s, many intellectuals supported labor because it represented not just an interest group, but a social movement whose activities promised much to not only its immediate members, but to the whole society," said Steven Fraser, co-chairman of the teach-ins and author of a biography on Sidney Hillman, the clothing workers' leader. "The social movement character of labor began to decline in the 1950s and was pretty much dead by the end of the 1960s. That's what had originally attracted intellectuals. Now, I'm happy to say, that social movement character is returning." For their part, labor leaders found it hard to forgive liberal academics for opposing the Vietnam War. And in the 1980s, the AFL-CIO hierarchy made common cause with some neo-conservative intellectuals in opposing leftist movements in Central America. In a hierarchy that was forever seeking to root out Communists, many labor leaders were squeamish about associating with academics, who they feared were closet Communists. Academics' support for labor is taking many forms. Fraser, the co-chairman of the teach-ins and executive editor of Houghton Mifflin, has shepherded into print Sweeney's new book, "America Needs a Raise." Professors at UCLA have advised the AFL-CIO on setting up its Union Summer program, in which more than 1,000 students volunteered to work for unions, and on carrying out a vast organizing effort at small factories in Los Angeles. At Sarah Lawrence College, Priscilla Murolo, a history professor, has encouraged some students to become union organizers. And at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Gretchen Knapp, a history professor, is setting up a teach-in and film festival about the labor movement. "A lot of our students, after they leave here, will be encouraged to join unions or will deal with unions in some way, shape or form," Knapp said. "These students know little about unions, and we're trying to show them what the labor movement stands for." The teach-in speakers at Columbia on Oct. 3 and 4 will include Cornel West, Afro-American studies professor at Harvard; feminist author Betty Friedan, and Richard Rorty, a University of Virginia philosopher. The workshops include "Working Families on the Fault Line," "Labor and Immigration," and "Organizing in the Global Economy." Copyright 1996 The New York Times Company ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| David Croteau Sociology/ Virginia Commonwealth University E-mail: dcroteau@saturn.vcu.edu From lastl@merkland.rgu.ac.uk Tue Sep 24 11:24:30 1996 Tue, 24 Sep 96 18:22:44 GMT+1 From: "THOMAS LANGE" Organization: The Robert Gordon University To: LABOR-RAP@csf.colorado.edu Date: Tue, 24 Sep 1996 18:22:30 GMT Subject: International conference on 'School-to-Work Transition' Dear colleagues, Following the very successful ILM Conference 1996 I have now the pleasure to enclose the respective conference announcement for 1997 on the theme "Understanding the School-to-Work Transition". Please do not hesitate to get in touch if further information is required. With best wishes, Thomas Lange Head, International Labour Markets Research Network Conference Announcement --------------------------------- The International Labour Markets Research Network (ILM) in association with the School of Public Administration and Law, the Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen announces its second international conference, to be held on 16-17 June 1997 in Aberdeen/Scotland. The focus of this 2-day event will be on school-to-work transitions, both from a theoretical and empirical perspective. The conference will help stimulate thinking around the complexity of youth labour markets and bring together academics, practitioners and policy-makers. Keynote speakers include the American economist David Blanchflower who will report on a major NBER study on 'hard-to-employ' youth across countries. The conference fee is stlg110.00 (stlg95 for research students and ILM members only), including the conference proceedings, light refreshments and dinner (Monday only). Early registration is recommended as places are limited. Expressions of interest in participating at the conference should be sent to: The International Labour Markets Research Network (ILM) ILM Conference 1997 The Robert Gordon University School of Public Administration and Law 352 King Street Aberdeen AB9 2TQ United Kingdom Fax: (44+) 1224 262929 E-mail: t.lange@rgu.ac.uk Call for Papers ------------------- If you would like to present a paper at the conference, please send an abstract not exceeding 500 words to the conference organiser at the above address. The deadline for abstracts will be 7 February 1997. If accepted, full papers will be required by 4 April 1997. Papers with a comparative dimension a particularly welcome, either across countries or over time. Papers should fall broadly into one of the following subject areas: * Post-compulsory education and training * Youth unemployment * Educational background and labour market destinations * The impact of trade unions on the youth labour market * Demographic developments * Policy reviews and appraisals From wkramer@ucla.edu Tue Sep 24 13:02:53 1996 Date: Tue, 24 Sep 1996 11:24:11 -0700 To: wkramer@rho.ben2.ucla.edu From: William Kramer Subject: Fall LAMAP Class This Friday !!! Spread the word about the fall class. Anyone who is interested can call me before the class begins. >Fall Quarter Field Study 199 for the Los Angeles Manufacturing Action Project(LAMAP) >First Meeting*: Friday, September 27 >10 AM -12 noon >Labor Center Conference Room >1001 Gayley, 2nd Floor (Next to the Coffee Bean) > >LAMAP is a labor-community campaign which brings unions, churches and community organizations together to fight for better working conditions for immigrants who work in manufacturing jobs that pay low wages (minimum or below!) and offer minimal benefits . LAMAP's strategy is to apply the industry-wide organizing model used by Justice for Janitors to manufacturing industries in Southern California. LAMAP was involved in this summer's campaign to win a fair contract for the delivery drivers from Mission-Guerrero Tortillas. > >This field study class will give you the chance to receive course credit for working with LAMAP. Credit is available from one of several departments including Chicano Studies, Asian-American Studies, History, Political Science, Sociology, and several others. The class will be conducted as a workshop. Students will meet weekly to learn about research methods and report on findings. We will bring in experienced researchers and visit public agencies for "hands-on" learning. > >Students can do work in one of three areas: (1)worker/ industry research (2)community research and (3) public and media relations. > >* worker/industry research: students will work with researchers and organizers > >* community research: students will work with LAMAP Community Organizer Joaquin Meneses on projects including research and outreach to Mexican regional federations, hometown associations, soccer clubs, and parents groups. > >* public and media relations: students will help work on media and public outreach projects, including assistance with video projects, newsletters, press releases, Web site, email network, and other projects. > >Contact UCLA-LAMAP Coordinator William Kramer at 310-794-0698 or wkramer@ucla.edu for more information. > >(* at this time we will pick weekly a meeting time for the research class. If you cannot meet at this time but would still like to take the class, please contact me during the first week of class). > --------------------------------- William Kramer UCLA LAMAP Coordinator 1001 Gayley Avenue--2nd Floor Los Angeles, CA 90024 310-794-0698 (phone) 310-794-8017 (fax) wkramer@ucla.edu (email) ---------------------------------- From chf6@cornell.edu Tue Sep 24 13:33:39 1996 Date: Tue, 24 Sep 1996 15:34:42 -0400 To: labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu From: Carl Feuer Subject: Re: Two Quick Questions... Steve, My friend, Henry Steck (VP, United University Professions, AFT), notes that part-timers at Nassau Community College (Long Island, NY) have their own union. Also there's an organization of adjuncts. You can probably contact the Organizing Dept of the AFL-CIO to get information on this Union. HOpe this helps. Carl At 09:19 PM 9/23/96 -0400, you wrote: >1. The server www.iww.org appears to be down--anybody know why? I'm >looking for an electronic copy of Ralph Chaplin's THE GENERAL STRIKE. > >2. Does anyone on the list know of any past attempts to organize part-time >community college faculty in the US? These folks, as you all must know, are >terribly exploited, and the community colleges bank on the fact that they >will never gain the solidarity they need to oppose the poor treatment they >get. We are talking about orgainizing a strike on all 30 CCs in Michigan >next Fall. The part-time faculty who are union members are not adequately >represented by their unions, which are run by full-time faculty who benefit >from the part-timer's exploitation. > >//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// >// Steve Robinson http://edtech.mcc.edu/robinson // >// Mott Community College robinson@edtech.mcc.edu // >//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// > > > > > Carl Feuer Health/Safety Trainer Midstate Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO 109 W. State St Ithaca, NY 14850 607/277-5670 (tel) 607/272-4111 (fax) From dreiling@darkwing.uoregon.edu Tue Sep 24 14:13:26 1996 Date: Tue, 24 Sep 1996 13:13:22 -0700 (PDT) From: Michael Charles Dreiling To: labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu Subject: Re: NAFTA research In-Reply-To: Todd. You have chosen a great topic for study. Below you will find some references and contacts related to NAFTA and social movements. For a general introduction to the list, I am currently completing my doctoral dissertation on the struggle over the NAFTA. My research establishes some groundwork for understanding the conditions that led to, and strengthened tendencies for intermovement alliances among groups fighting the NAFTA here in the US (particularly labor and environmentalists). The political response to defend the NAFTA from this broad coalition of challengers is also analyzed in-depth to reveal an "inner circle" corporate mobilization whose dense ties to each other, and across a broad spectrum of policy institutions, facilitated the passage of the trade agreement (and thus a defeat of the challengers at the policy level). Contact me if you are interested in talking about some of this. You should also contact the Global Trade Watch program at Public Citizen (http://www.citizen.org/public_citizen/pctrade/tradehome.html). The AFL-CIO also has a Task Force on Trade, in addition to research staff at several unions. The UE-FAT Strategic Organizing Alliance is something you should check out as well; they also have a great Web page. You can access the UE through the Institute for Global Communications (http://www.igc.apc.org/labornet/). As for the Mexico and Canada cases, there is a lot to sort through. A good first step would be through the directory of organizations published by the Inter-hemispheric Resource Center (in New Mexico, 505-842-8288). You could also contact Dan LaBotz to get on the Solidarity listserve for regular postings on current labor movement changes and activities in Mexico. email: Dan La Botz <103144.2651@COMPUSERVE.COM>. Allen Hunter at the Havens Center (Dept. of Sociology at the Univ. of Wisconsin) has been doing some great NAFTA follow-up work. Allen Hunter and others drafted a conference report, Beyond NAFTA, that would be worth getting. There are numerous short articles and books, some unpublished, and some in venues that are not very accessible. Below is a partial list of some publications (and some of my pieces) dealing with the main issues of NAFTA and the social movement responses around the agreement. As you will see, some work has been published that deals explicitly with the effects of trade liberalization policy, and particularly NAFTA, on the practices and strategies of social movements. Good luck in your research! Michael Dreiling Department of Sociology University of Oregon Eugene, OR 97403-1291 541-346-5025 Fax: 541-346-5026 dreiling@darkwing.uoregon.edu ------------------------------------------------- Cavanagh, John et al. Trading Freedom: How Free Trade Effects Our Lives, Work and Environment. (San Francisco: Food First, 1992). Davis, Diane, "Mexico's New Politics: Changing Perspectives on Free Trade", World Policy Journal. 1992, Fall/Winter: 655-70. Development GAP 1992. "The Citizens Analysis of the NAFTA". 1400 I Street, NW, Suite 520. Washington D.C. 20005. Dowie, Mark Losing Ground: American Environmentalism at the Close of the Twentieth Century. (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1995). Dreiling, Michael. "Environmentalism, Neocardenismo and Neoliberal Capital: Mobilization and Countermobilization Over the North American Free Trade Agreement in Mexico and the U.S." (under revision for Capitalism, Nature, Socialism). Dreiling, Michael. "Corporate Inner Circles and NAFTA Policy Networks: Leadership and Class Strategy," American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, New York City, New York. August 16-20, 1996. Robinson, Ian and Michael Dreiling. "Neoliberal Economic Integration, Labor Movement Power, and Social Policy in the United States and Canada." International Studies Association, Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, April 17-21, 1996. Dreiling, Michael. "Social Unionism, Environmental Justice, and the Fair Trade Movement: Weaving Webs of Opposition to the North American Free Trade Agreement," American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C. Aug., 1995. Goldrich, Daniel and David Carruthers, "Sustainable Development in Mexico? The International Politics of Crisis or Opportunity" Latin American Perspectives. Vol 19(1)(1992):97-122; Grinspun, Ricardo and Maxwell Cameron (eds.) The Political Economy of North American Free Trade (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1993). Hernandez, Ricardo and Edith Sanchez, Cross-Border Links: A Directory of Organizations in Canada, Mexico and the U.S. (Albuquerque, NM: Inter-Hemispheric Education Resource Center, 1992). Hunter, Allen. 1995. Globalization from Below? Promises and Perils of the New Internationalism. Social Policy 25(4):6-13. Kidder, Thalia and Mary McGinn. 1995. In the Wake of NAFTA: Transnational Workers Networks. Social Policy 25(4):14-21. Moody, Kim and Mary McGinn Unions and Free Trade: Solidarity vs. Competition. A Labor Notes Book. Detroit, 1992. Nader, Ralph et al. The Case Against Free Trade: GATT, NAFTA, and the Globalization of Corporate Power. (San Francisco: Earth Island Press, 1993). Robinson, Ian 1994. "NAFTA, Social Unionism, and Labour Movement Power in Canada and the United States," in Relaciones Industriall/ Industrial Relations Vol 49(4)1994:657-695. Robinson, Ian North American Trade as if Democracy Mattered (Washington, D.C.: International Labor Rights Fund, 1993). Shrybman, Steven "The Environmental Costs of Free Trade" Multinational Monitor. Mar. 1990. ---------------- "The Costs of Economic Integration: Trading Away the Environment" World Policy Journal. W'1991-92:93-110. Tamayo, Jaime "Neoliberalism Encounters Neocardenismo," in Joe Foweraker and Ann Craig, eds., Popular Movements and Political Change in Mexico, (Boulder: Rienner Publishers, 1990). Thorup, Cathryn "The Politics of Free Trade and the Dynamics of Cross-Border Coalitions in US-Mexican Relations," Columbia Journal of World Business 26(2)(Summer, 1991):12-26. From rross@vax.clarku.edu Tue Sep 24 15:07:30 1996 for labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu; Tue, 24 Sep 1996 17:02:46 -0500 (EST) Date: Tue, 24 Sep 1996 17:03:08 -0400 From: "Robert J.S. Bob Ross" Subject: Re: NAFTA research To: labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu Organization: Prof. and Chair of Sociology, Clark University References: On the question of transnational labor cooperation, I humbly offer the following cites: Ross, Robert J.S. 1995 "Global capitalism and labor at the end of history" Socialism and Democracy, 9:2 (#19), Fall/Winter 1995-96. 1995 "Global Capital, Global Unions: Speculations on the Future of Global Unionism." in Die Geburt der Weltwirtschaft, edited by Karl. S. Althaler & Hardy Hanappi. Vienna: Sonderzahl Verlagsges. -- Robert J. S. Ross 508 793 7243 Professor and Chair of Sociology fax: 508 793 8816 Clark University Rross@vax.clarku.edu 950 Main Street Worcester, Massachusetts 01610 From bnissen@indiana.edu Wed Sep 25 07:35:40 1996 Date: Wed, 25 Sep 1996 08:35:37 -0500 (EST) From: "Bruce A. Nissen" To: labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu Subject: Re: NAFTA research In-Reply-To: <32484C8C.A03@vax.clarku.edu> The responses to the request for citations and information on NAFTA and cross-border alliances are very useful. I would like to thank those who responded so far, and to encourage others to also do so. I myself had sent a private response to Todd Mathews, but now that others have responded to the entire group, I think their choice was better than mine. I won't re-post my own response however, because Michael Dreiling's response covered everything I had, plus more. Thank you, Michael! I do have any additional request for those on this list. I will be taking a sabbatical during the 1997-98 academic year, and during the January-June 1998 portion of that sabbatical, I plan to survey similar categories of workers (e.g., steelworkers-steelworkers, oil workers-oil workers, telecommuncations workers-telecommunications workers, etc.) on both sides of the border regarding their attitudes about certain topics. The topics will be: NAFTA, each other, globalization, trans-national corporations, nationalistic approaches to problems brought about by globalization, and cross-border approaches. I have been trying to track down any surveys, questionnaires, polls, etc., that have been done, particularly with Mexican workers or the Mexican population as a whole, on these or related issues. I've found some 1980s research by Kenneth Coleman and Charles Davis on general political issues, and some surveys by Mitchell Seligson on borderline workers, but so far that is about all. Does anybody know of any other studies surveying attitudes on these types of issues? I can read Spanish, so I'm thinking of the relevant literature in either English or Spanish. Any assistance from anybody would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. Bruce Nissen Division of Labor Studies Indiana University Northwest Gary, IN 46408 219-980-6639 FAX 219-980-6834 email: bnissen@indiana.edu From leonard@servtech.com Wed Sep 25 10:33:22 1996 Date: Wed, 25 Sep 1996 12:33:18 -0400 (EDT) To: labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu From: "Robert L. Leonard" Subject: Monroe County N.Y. Keeps taxpayers in the dark!!!! FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PRESS CONTACT: Tuesday September 24, 1996 Florence Tripi (716)328-5250 Bob Leonard (716) 272-0800 CSEA BLASTS COUNTY EXECUTIVE DOYLE FOR KEEPING THE TAXPAYERS OF MONROE COUNTY IN THE DARK The Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) blasted Monroe County Executive Jack Doyle for refusing to release information on the Privatization of the Monroe County Golf Courses. CSEA has made a legitimate request for proposals submitted to the County to take over Golf Course Operations at Genesee Valley, Durand-Eastman and Churchville Golf Courses. Despite the fact that the County has announced that Jack Tindale has been awarded the contract to run these Golf Course Operations, the County has been less than forthcoming about the Details. CSEA has submitted a Freedom of Information Request, (FOIL), for Jack Tindale's proposal to take over the operations at Genesee Valley, Durand-Eastman and Churchville Golf Courses including any financing agreements. CSEA's FOIL Request has been denied by the County. "The refusal on the part of Monroe County to turn over the requested information is a blatant attempt to keep the people in the dark", stated Monroe County Employees Unit President, Florence Tripi. "The Taxpayers, Golfers and others with an interest in the Monroe County Parks, have a right to know the details of Jack Doyle's privatization plans", Tripi added. Florence Tripi stated: "New York State's Open Government Laws are in place to provide the Citizens of New York information on the operation of Government. Monroe County is blatantly ignoring the Laws of this State designed to keep New Yorkers informed". As Monroe County has announced the successful bidder to take over operations of the County Golf Courses, Tripi maintains "there is no legitimate reason to keep the details of the proposals from public view". -30- Robert L. Leonard CSEA New York/AFSCME Leonard@servtech.com From eshaffer@welchlink.welch.jhu.edu Wed Sep 25 17:50:16 1996 Date: Wed, 25 Sep 1996 19:44:05 -0400 (EDT) From: Ellen R Shaffer To: labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu Subject: Re: Two Quick Questions... In-Reply-To: <2.2.32.19960924193442.00712f44@postoffice4.mail.cornell.edu> AFT was organizing part timers all over the S.F. Bay area, for sure at S.F. City College, maybe also at community colleges. Joe T. Berry, now at UMI Labor Center in the Division of Continuing Education in Iowa City, worked on this issue for years, and may know of other resources in the Midwest. Good luck. On Tue, 24 Sep 1996, Carl Feuer wrote: > Steve, > My friend, Henry Steck (VP, United University Professions, AFT), notes that > part-timers at Nassau Community College (Long Island, NY) have their own > union. Also there's an organization of adjuncts. You can probably contact > the Organizing Dept of the AFL-CIO to get information on this Union. HOpe > this helps. > Carl > > > At 09:19 PM 9/23/96 -0400, you wrote: > >1. The server www.iww.org appears to be down--anybody know why? I'm > >looking for an electronic copy of Ralph Chaplin's THE GENERAL STRIKE. > > > >2. Does anyone on the list know of any past attempts to organize part-time > >community college faculty in the US? These folks, as you all must know, are > >terribly exploited, and the community colleges bank on the fact that they > >will never gain the solidarity they need to oppose the poor treatment they > >get. We are talking about orgainizing a strike on all 30 CCs in Michigan > >next Fall. The part-time faculty who are union members are not adequately > >represented by their unions, which are run by full-time faculty who benefit > >from the part-timer's exploitation. > > > >//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// > >// Steve Robinson http://edtech.mcc.edu/robinson // > >// Mott Community College robinson@edtech.mcc.edu // > >//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// > > > > > > > > > > > Carl Feuer > Health/Safety Trainer > Midstate Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO > 109 W. State St > Ithaca, NY 14850 > 607/277-5670 (tel) > 607/272-4111 (fax) > > From ebonacic@wizard.ucr.edu Thu Sep 26 07:23:14 1996 From: Edna Bonacich Subject: Re: Secure Messages (Paranoia Dept.) To: labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 06:16:36 -0700 (PDT) In-Reply-To: from "Goetz Wolff" at Sep 23, 96 10:45:06 am Hi Goetz, Thanks for the timely warning about being too open on E-Mail. I'm learning that even snail mail is a risky proposition. Scary! With a litigious company like GUESS, everything you put in writing is dangerous. Congratulations on the Teamster victory! It's tremendous. How did the Apparel Round Table meeting go yesterday? I couldn't make it. I'm back to school, and barely holding my head above water. And how are you and Paula?? Warm regards, Edna From cjorge@student.umass.edu Thu Sep 26 19:08:09 1996 Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 21:07:31 -0400 (EDT) From: Cristine To: labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu Please put me on your mailing list. Cristine Jorge cjorge@student.umass.edu From carre@radmail.harvard.edu Fri Sep 27 07:36:07 1996 Date: Fri, 27 Sep 1996 09:28:45 -0400 From: Francoise Carre To: labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu Subject: Your message got to me, do you want to be on the Radcliffe Public Policy Institute mailing list or the Labor Reseearch and Action Project mailing list? If the latter, I am not the person to contact. >>> Cristine 09/26/96 09:07pm >>> Please put me on your mailing list. Cristine Jorge cjorge@student.umass.edu From dcroteau@saturn.vcu.edu Fri Sep 27 08:14:22 1996 Date: Fri, 27 Sep 1996 10:12:51 -0400 To: labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu From: dcroteau@saturn.vcu.edu (david croteau) Subject: greetings+ASA minutes Greetings from the listowner. After being up and running for a couple of weeks, the LABOR-RAP subscriber's list is beginning to stabilize. We currently have 178 subscibers and are now adding just a few folks each day. I'd say this is a good start for us! Since our list has nearly doubled in size during the last week, I am re-posting two items for the benefit of the new subsribers. This will be the LAST time I post these materials. (Thanks to all the early subscribers for your patience in seeing this for the third time!) The items are : 1) parts of an earlier greeting, and 2) the minutes from the ASA meeting on academics and the labor movement. ----------------------------------------- 1) Welcome to the LABOR-RAP discussion list. I'm writing to welcome you, to encourage you to begin posting to the list (labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu), and to request your patience in the coming weeks. As people gradually join us during this start-up period we may be repeating ourselves a few times in order to get people up to speed. In fact, you will see some version of this message posted to the entire list a few times in the coming weeks. Also, be sure to encourage others who might be interested to subscribe. 2) SUMMARY OF THE ASA MEETING ON "ACADEMICS AND THE LABOR MOVEMENT" by Dan Clawson MAIN RECEPTION The AFL-CIO Organizing Institute enthusiastically welcomed the creation of a Sociology Labor Nework. In response the OI sponsored a reception at the sociology convention in New York (Sunday evening August 18, 1996). We had told the AFL-CIO to expect 75 people; 200 attended. The attendance was only one part of the success; equally impressive was the enthusiasm of the audience and what the speeches indicated about the direction of the new labor movement. Frances Fox Piven noted that, like many of the participants in 1960s social movements, her views of the labor movement had changed over the years. Richard Bensinger, the AFL-CIO's Director of Organizing, talked about the ways the labor movement is changing. The labor laws need to be changed, and the AFL-CIO is preparing a campaign to change the laws, but labor can't wait for the law to be changed. Labor is adopting new and innovative tactics, even if that means organizing outside the protections of the NLRB. The labor movement, Bensinger said, must be more than just trade unions; people like us are a vital part of a rejuvenated labor movement. This is, he said, one of the two most exciting times in the history of U.S. labor. (The other, obviously was the 1930s.) What happens in the next few years will determine whether labor can be transformed. Both speakers emphasized that women, people of color, and low wage workers must be central to labor activities. That point was reiterated in comments by several sociology students who had participated in Union Summer. In addition to the reception, about 70 (?) sociologists had one-on-one meetings with Organizing Institute staff on Sunday and Monday of the convention. Both the sociologists who participated and the Organizing Institute staff were energized by these meetings. FUTURE ACTIVITIES After the main reception, a group of about 35 stayed for an additional hour to talk about next steps, ideas of things we can do either on our own campuses or through the A.S.A. What follows is my attempt to summarize some of the high points of that discussion, but I (Dan Clawson) did not take full notes at the time and may easily have missed some key ideas, so I hope others (whether or not they were at the New York meeting) will write in to supplement and extend these proposals. COMMUNICATION People felt we needed ways to communicate with each other. The first priority was creating an electronic list-serve. David Croteau volunteered to do so and (as of September 15) already has it up and running. Others suggested the creation of a Homepage (any volunteers?) and of a newsletter, or perhaps a series of regional newsletters, reporting about activities in various areas, and providing means to connect to other movements. STUDENT LABOR ACTION Organizing Institute staff -- especially Chris Woods, national recruitment director -- reported that a priority for the coming year is to build on Union Summer by creating Student Labor Action Committees (or SLACs) on as many campuses as possible. The lead in organizing these will probably be taken by Union Summer graduates, especially on campuses where there is a critical mass. But SLACs often need faculty advisers, and faculty can help provide resources, advice, contacts. SLACs will work on both national and local labor activities. A major national focus will be the Strawberry Campaign. Actions can also be mounted around international campaigns, mobilizing against sweatshops, working to build coalitions with community and religious activists interested in these issues. Where there are unions on campus, it is important to connect to them. And campus based personnel, whether students or faculty, need to reach out to Central Labor Councils and local unions. Perhaps not all of labor will welcome our participation, but many will, and it is important to make the effort. A professor in the Claremont College system, Nigel Boyle (a historian?), taught a public service course on organizing. Students enrolled for the course, attended a 2 day session taught by staff from the Organizing Institute, were matched with unions that needed student workers, and then worked 10 (15, 20) hours a week for the union while earning college credit. Others could also create such courses; we could share information about doing so. Lots of people do a "junior year abroad" as a broadening experience. We should each work to see that our campus offers a "junior year abroad" of working with labor in some kind of internship. In whatever we do, we need to be aware of and be sensitive to the existence of sectarian movements who are much less concerned about building the labor movement than they are about building their own sectarian movement, who will attempt to take over any group, who will disrupt meetings and insist the group focus on the agenda of their sectarian group. INFORMATION SHARING To the extent we have an active communications system, whether a list-serve or a newsletter, we can use it to share ideas. Some possibilities: 1. Share information about speakers -- who are good people to invite, people's experiences with different speakers, the situations for which they are most appropriate and where they might have more difficulty, ways of connecting with local labor. 2. Develop a labor film series at your college; we can share curriculum ideas, develop an annotated list of films and ways of organizing the series 3. Share information about research projects -- academics can report on what we and others are doing. Anyone could indicate what unions or other labor groups need done, of research that would benefit labor activities in your area. This could become a way for unions to get answers to pressing problems, or to get leads to who could answer, and for people to take on the most needed research. 4. Create a job listing service. For example, sometimes person A knows of a union or other labor group who needs an intern, but does not know anyone who has the needed qualifications and is interested; if person A could post the job, perhaps other students would be eager to apply for the job, or other faculty would know of interested students. 5. We should copy the conservatives: people could write generic op-ed pieces and letters-to-the-editor, and put them on a Homepage or list-serve. Other people could then download those, adapt them to their local area by filling in local names or examples, sign their own names and send them to their local newspapers. In general, whenever labor related material appears in the press (or should have appeared, but doesn't), write a letter to the editor about it making some pro-labor point. Conservatives and anti-labor people are much more visible and active than pro-labor people. Chris Woods of the Organizing Institute pointed out that when Time magazine did a good article on Union Summer, the next issue had several anti-labor responses, but no pro-labor statements. START AN A.S.A. SECTION Some felt we should create an ASA section on labor movements, and use that as a means to get a newsletter, be assurred of a session at each ASA meeting, regularly elect a set of officers who will be responsible for seeing that things get done, etc. (Coming soon on a list-serve near you: the pros and cons of starting an A.S.A. section.) ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| David Croteau Sociology/ Virginia Commonwealth University E-mail: dcroteau@saturn.vcu.edu From flacks@alishaw.sscf.ucsb.edu Fri Sep 27 16:29:30 1996 Date: Fri, 27 Sep 1996 15:28:01 -0700 (PDT) From: Dick Flacks To: labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu Subject: conference posting (fwd) ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 27 Sep 1996 14:11:52 -0700 (PDT) From: Richard Flacks To: flacks@sscf.ucsb.edu Subject: conference posting > > > > >November 16, 1996 >9:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. >The Great Hall, D'Agostino Building, NYU, 110 W. 3rd Street >Free and Open to the Public > >Between Classes: A Conference on Academic Labor > >Academics and union activists from public and private institutions across >the country provide an overview of the problems facing workers in the >university and the range of possible solutions. > >Morning Panel, 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon > >"Crisis in the University Workplace" > >Moderator: Andrew Ross, NYU >Paulette Caldwell, NYU Law >Juan Flores, CUNY >Maryann Massenburg, AGSE-UAW >David Montgomery, Yale University > >Mid-day Workshops, 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. > >Affirmative Action >Ethnic Studies and Curriculum Debates >Campus Unionizing: Staff Workers and Graduate Students >New York City Schools: the Public-Private Divide > >Afternoon Panel, 3:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. > >"Responses, Strategies, Coalitions" > >Moderator: Robin D.G. Kelley, NYU >Cary Nelson, University of Illinois >Kathy Newman, Yale GESO >Trudy Rudnick, AFT Local 3882 >Alexandra Suh, Columbia University > >Reception to Follow > >Sponsors include: Africana Studies * American Studies * Anthropology * >Asian-American Studies * Comparative Literature * Cultural Reporting and >Criticism, Journalism * East Asian Studies * English * EQUAL * Faculty of >Arts & Sciences * GSAS* History * Institute for Law and Society * >Institute of French Studies * Journalism * Local 3882 AFT, NYU Clerical >Workers * Metropolitan Studies * OASIS * Politics* Review of Law and >Social Change * Sociology* Spanish and Portuguese > > > > > From flacks@alishaw.sscf.ucsb.edu Fri Sep 27 16:31:18 1996 Date: Fri, 27 Sep 1996 15:29:48 -0700 (PDT) From: Dick Flacks To: labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu Subject: Column by Todd Gitlin This is scheduled to appear in the NY Observer *** Putting the Movement in the Labor Movement? by Todd Gitlin Thursday night and Friday, October 3 and 4, something rarer than a picture of Dick Morris on the cover of Time [ital.] magazine is going to happen in New York. Two endangered species are going to see what they can do for each other. Intellectuals of the left, in cahoots with the AFL-CIO leadership, summon one and all to gather at Columbia University in what is billed as a "teach-in with the labor movement." The conjunction is important. With implies cooperation and equality, not pity. It's been less than a year since American labor decided to take the cure, with of all things a contested election--it took the AFL-CIO longer than the erstwhile communist regimes of the Soviet empire--culminating in the ascendancy of John Sweeney, the reformers' hope. Sweeney and his team are not just talking the talk of organizing the unorganized. They are actually putting money, $20 million of it, where their rhetoric is, training organizers to (of all things) organize unions. Under the rubric of Union Summer, with intended echoes of Mississippi 1964, some 1000 young people took the summer off to set up at factories and offices, doing the hard work of campaigning to make it possible for unions to compete in fair elections. They won some and lost some, but the point is that they found out that making society more decent is more than a matter of reading French theorists. This is the sort of lesson that lasts a lifetime. Union organizer might just turn out to be the sort of career that grows as fast as security guards. Turning the AFL-CIO around, even with a new captain, is something like turning a supertanker around. This isn't the first time that the AFL-CIO has talked the talk. As NYU journalism chairman William Serrin reminds us in a recent Washington Post [ital.] piece, fifty years ago the CIO put together Operation Dixie to organize Southern workers, and in 1955, the merged labor federation swore it would organize 15 million workers, both times to little avail. The unions are pushing upstream--which is not impossible but requires a lot of muscle. They are up against global corporations that can blithely reassign production anyplace on the planet. They face outsourcing and downsizing, global competition, steadily fancier machines and an unfriendly government. The latter is one area where the unions could use public support. They have taken a bath in the public bassinet. Less than 20 years ago, in 1977, almost one-quarter of American workers belonged to unions. Today it is only 1 in 6--only 1 in 9 in the private sector. While some would argue that unions are so lean because they're not mean, i. e., militant, enough, a more likely explanation is that the game is rigged against them. The National Labor Relations Board, founded to help unions get certified, in recent years has served mainly to block them. When Ronald Reagan fired the air traffic controllers in 1981, he sent a resounding message. Strikes have become, usually, losing propositions. Company anti-union campaigns got bigger and smarter. Despite occasional moves, most recently the minimum wage boost, Bill Clinton, who governed one of the least unionized states [CHECK] in the country, has never had much time for unions. If there is any union background in his family, he has shut up about it. We know more about his underwear. Not so immense, labor has at least begun to draw blood as a stand-up bogeyman for the right. As the AFL-CIO started early pouring unprecedented sums into Congressional races this year, Republicans went gang-busters with their rhetoric machine. From the indignant yelps of the likes of Trent Lott about "big labor," you'd think the mobsters of yesteryear had come back from their cement bathing suits. Bob Dole's handlers, no geniuses, seem to think that the teachers' union makes a opportune target. Over the long run, Republicans show their class colors when it comes to unions. But labor needs more than to cry foul against pro-business media and politics. It needs to tend to both horns of a dilemma: to stake out big purposes and to win more fights. When I mentioned this week's teach-in to a friend of mine, a lifelong partisan of labor, he said, "You know why this is happening now? Labor has fallen so far that students can finally see it as a victim group." A crack as hopeful as it is cynical, actually, and he has a point. The left-of-center politics of the middle classes is ordinarily knotted up with class guilt about how exotic others are being treated. Downsized professionals, students and intellectuals may be coming to understand that the exotic others are themselves, or their cousins and aunts. The biggest unions now include teachers and clericals--and, crucially, large proportions of women and people of color. Unions are, in crucial fact, the major trans-racial, trans-ethnic, trans-sex, trans-preference groupings around. Craft unions that cavalierly excluded African-Americans have mostly had to come clean or wither. Mob influence is way down (though union membership participation is also way low). Those who wearily stare at the limits of identity politics have sorely needed a cross-category federation, an actually existing movement, in which people of various types work together because their common condition matters more than their differences. Decades have passed since labor was a cause among the chattering classes. In the fabled '30s, intellectuals rolled up their sleeves, went to Detroit and Alabama, took their lumps, and helped put the movement in labor. In the fabled late '60s, the farm workers did make collegiate hearts beat, and the Maoists of Progressive Labor and other marxisants [ital.] made occasional pilgrimages to strike picket lines, but for the most part the attitude of student radicals was disdain--as in the New York teachers' strike of 1968-69, with tragic consequences that reverberate to this day. Especially because the AFL-CIO was hotter to subsidize anti-Communist unions in South America than in North Carolina, labor seemed fossilized--at best, a pause more than a cause. Recently, things have changed a bit on campuses, with Yale's and Barnard's strikers getting sizable student support. The deeper challenge will be not just to sign up union members and bring sandwiches to picket lines but to get rusty unions to wheel around and get serious about what to propose as remedies. The days when collective bargaining by itself could make a pass at solving immense social problems are long gone. Health insurance for all will not result from signing one company contract after another. The unions, with their immense pension funds, have to do more than look upon the economy passively while they fight rearguard battles. They have to get big and smart enough to fight for affirmative investment, child care, steady retraining--not just grouse about NAFTA. They have to convince a skeptical public that they aren't simply self-protection societies. It's time for the sleeping giant, however downsized, to stand. The teach-in opens Thursday, October 3, at 7:30, at Columbia's Low Library, with plenary talks by John Sweeney, Cornel West, Betty Friedan, Patricia Williams, and Richard Rorty. More plenaries and workshops follow on Friday, October 4, with Katha Pollitt, Michael Lind, Richard Trumka, and Francis Fox Piven, and a cast of hundreds or, who knows, thousands. -30-