Of course virtually all the good benefits all workers unionized or not enjoy are a direct consequence of unions. One must remember that corporations’ fiduciary responsibility is to their shareholders, not their workers. As such their workers are just another commodity that they will attempt to get at the smallest cost possible.
Unions (workers banding together) are the only entities strong enough to provide a balance to ensure that workers are not simply paid menial wages. After-all, even corporations band together to exert force on government and other corporations. Suffice it to say, every American worker should be a part of a union to ensure there is balance between worker and employer and to ensure that shareholder value is not maximized at the expense of the minimization of the worker.
In that light as detailed in the Houston Chronicle article below, the AFL-CIO is opening its doors to every American worker with Working America, the affiliate union. In addition to providing every working American with valued benefits, hopefully it will be used as an organizing tool to rebuild the union brand. Hopefully it will be used to instill in every American worker their worth as workers which are just as valuable if not more so that the shareholder, the executive, or the broker of the company.
Drive means everyone can join AFL-CIO
Most of us think of labor unions as organizations people join at work. The AFL-CIO is trying to change that.
The giant labor federation is opening its doors to everyone, including those who are between jobs or don’t have unions at work. It set up an affiliate union – Working America – to focus on many of the same hot button issues that unions do, including health care access, retirement security and unemployment insurance benefits.
Much like members of AARP, the National Rifle Association and many other large organizations, the AFL-CIO’s more than 3 million members have access to a wide range of consumer discounts on such items as hotel rooms, car rentals and auto insurance. And like those other interest groups, the AFL-CIO can galvanize its newest members almost instantly.
"It’s the smartest thing the AFL-CIO has done since the merger," said Richard Shaw, secretary-treasurer of the Harris County AFL-CIO, referring to the 1955 combination of the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations.
For the past few years the AFL-CIO has been using door-to-door canvassers to sign up members. But that’s expensive and the labor federation, which has more than 12 million members – including its new Working America members – is asking labor councils around the nation to sign up friends and family of existing union members as well as people who belong to like-minded community groups.
While they won’t have collective bargaining rights or the protections of the National Labor Relations Board, members will have many of the same union benefits for $5 a year, said Shaw, who conducted the first training session in December and will have several more in April.
Seeking members
And he’s betting that over time it will increase membership in unions, which stood at just 5.2 percent of Texas wage and salary workers last year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
"Employers need to pay attention to this sort of thing if they want to maintain a union-free workforce," said A. Kevin Troutman, an employment lawyer at Fisher & Phillips who represents management clients.
He said the AFL-CIO project is a way to build loyalty, engender an atmosphere of "us versus them" and identify people already receptive to union messages, said Troutman. That could give a union a head start later on if it launched an organizing campaigning.
Shaw said he’s already collecting data about where the new members work and worship.
"When you start signing people up, you are talking about organizing at the neighborhood level," he said.
Sixel: Drive means everyone can join AFL-CIO – Houston Chronicle