What the labour movement can be

Abstract

FOCUS ❐ YOUNG WORKERS AND TRADE UNION RIGHTS own restrictions on labour rights. In Ohio, shortly after the bill in Wisconsin, Governor John Kasich signed into law restrictions to public workers’ right to collectively bargain. However enactment was suspended due to a State-wide repeal campaign organised largely by labour unions. Ohioans voted to repeal the law by a 2to -1 margin and the bill failed. Wisconsin and Ohio were just two of labour ’s many state-level battles that year. Whether or not laws restricting collective bargaining were enacted, as in Wisconsin, or failed, as in Ohio, they were fiercely fought. Rank and file activists and their allies occupied the Wisconsin State Capitol for over two weeks; one cold Saturday, as many as 750,000 people took part in a demonstration outside the state capitol. In Ohio, while 400,000 signatures were required to add the repeal to the ballot, labour and its allies submitted a record-breaking total of 1,298,301 signatures and as the parade of boxes overflowing with signed petitions was delivered to the Secretary of State’s office, a large crowd cheered on. These state-level battles garnered national attention. National media outlets covering these battlegrounds packaged the stories as the resurgence of the US labour movement. National news anchors held their primetime nightly shows from outside the occupied Wisconsin Capitol; 24-hours news channels covered the entire submission of the 1.2 million signatures to the Ohio Secretary of State. The Ohio vote was one of the most closely followed campaigns of the off year election. Labour's story was told as one of collective action, rejuvenation and a lot of potential; it was the story of a new labour movement. Younger workers: potential and challenges The labour movement and its allies celebrated the public demonstrations against states’ anti-labour bills and the repeal in Ohio. The national attention put a spotlight on an ailing American labour movement, highlighting its successes, failures and potential. Cleverly, national unions have been able to capitalise this attention and have sought to expand their membership, allies and partners. The national attention on the labour protests and demonstrations, as well as the tough economic times, put a new spotlight on the labour movement. While the bad reputation of ‘thugs’, ‘greedy’, and ‘corrupt’ has not entirely faded away, there have been concerted efforts to replace it with a reputation as the standard-bearer for the middle-class. In 2010, according to the Pew Research Center’s Biannual Report on Unions and Corporations, approval of labour unions reached its lowest level since 1985 with only 41 percent of those surveyed with a What the labour movement can be A recent survey revealed that younger workers view unions more favourably than any other age group, yet they are the least unionised of all age groups, in part due to restrictive labour law and changing working conditions INTERNATIONAL union rights Page 12 Volume 20 Issue 3 2013 ‘S upersize my wages’, read one of the many posters gracing the streets of Seattle on 2 September 2013, Labor Day. The ever-growing national Fast Food Worker Strike was in full swing with dozens of picketers, most but not all, fast food workers themselves. Downtown Seattle was a mishmash of labour coalitions peacefully co-existing and together creating a large diverse group. In addition to fast food workers and their allies, there were janitors and custodial workers from local hotels, some fighting for better wages, others fighting for the right to collectively organise; public school teachers , at that time involved in a contentious contract negotiation; and grocery store workers fighting for better wages and working conditions at nonunionised stores. There were traditional labour unions, such as the United Food & Commercial Workers International Union (‘UFCW’) and the Service Employees International Union (‘SEIU’), as well as coalitions of labour unions and alternative labour groups, such as OUR Walmart, associated with the UFCW, and the Fast Food Worker group, associated with the SEIU. The crowd was diverse, with men and women from different industries, races, ethnicities and ages. The demands were both concrete - raise the minimum wage to $15 and better working conditions for Walmart workers - as well...