<109188780">Usa, sindacato, economia IHT 05-06-13
<2752665">Cinque federazioni sindacali (americane) intendono creare una coalizione per la crescita
Steven Greenhouse
<2752666">Oggi negli Usa solo 1/13 dei lavoratori del settore privato è iscritto a un sindacato, contro 1/3 di cinquant’anni fa’.
Cinque federazioni sindacali americane che rappresentano oltre 1/3 dei membri di A.F.L.-C.I.O., una confederazione di 57 federazioni e 13 milioni di lavoratori, stanno pensando di formare una coalizione per sindacalizzare un maggio numero di lavoratori. La coalizione potrebbe essere chiamata Change to Win Coalition, Cambiare per formare una coalizione.
Andrew L. Stern, presidente del sindacato dei servizi, ha minacciato di abbandonare Afl-Cio se venisse rieletto Sweeney: «Il movimento sindacale deve puntare a organizzare 9 lavoratori su 10 non sindacalizzati. Se non lo facciamo non saremo in grado né di costruire un vasto movimento per la giustizia economia e sociale, né di ottenere consistenti risultati al tavolo negoziale o nell’arena legislativa per la piccola minoranza di lavoratori che ancora hanno un loro sindacato».
Stern spera di raccogliere anche l’International Brotherhood of Carpenters (sindacato internazionale carpentieri), uscito da Afl-Cio nel 2001.
Le cinque federazioni sono: Service Employees International Union (sindacato internazionale dei lavoratori dei servizi), i Teamsters (autotrasportatori), i laborers, i food and commercial workers (lavoratori alimentaristi e del commercio) e Unite Here, che rappresenta i lavoratori dei settori alberghiero, ristorazione e abbigliamento. Il sindacato dei servizi ha oltre 1,7 milioni d’iscritti.
I cinque sindacati criticano John Sweeney, presidente da 10 anni di A.F.L.-C.I.O., che potrebbe essere rieletto per altri 4 anni, di non fare abbastanza per organizzare i lavoratori non ancora iscritti ai sindacati.
Il sindacato dei servizi, quello degli autotrasportatori, degli alimentaristi e commercio, degli alberghieri, ristorazione e abbigliamento hanno minacciato di abbandonare Afl-Cio se non diventa più aggressiva nell’organizzare i lavoratori.
Sweeney: «dobbiamo impegnarci a lavorare assieme per risolvere i contrasti. Se mai c’è stato un periodo in cui il movimento sindacale doveva essere unito è questo,con i lavoratori sottoposti al peggior attacco da 80 anni».
I funzionari dell’Afl-Cio fanno presente che 4 delle 5 federazioni scissioniste hanno perso iscritti.
IHT 05-06-13
<1285354"><109188781">Five Unions to Create a Coalition on Growth
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
Five labor unions that are highly critical of John J. Sweeney, the president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., are planning to announce this week that they are forming a coalition aimed at unionizing large numbers of workers, several union officials said yesterday.
Labor leaders said they were planning this move because they want to form an aggressively pro-growth coalition and because they believe the A.F.L.-C.I.O. is doing too little to organize nonunion workers.
This new coalition will be formed by the Service Employees International Union, the Teamsters, the laborers, the food and commercial workers and Unite Here, which represents hotel, restaurant and apparel workers, two union officials said. These officials insisted on anonymity because they feared some union leaders would be angry at them for disclosing the plan before it is announced Wednesday, after union leaders meet in Washington.
The five unions represent more than one-third of the membership of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., an umbrella federation of 57 unions and 13 million workers.
The union officials said the new coalition – tentatively called the Change to Win Coalition – would not compete with the federation. Rather, they say, it will complement the federation to give new energy and excitement to the flagging labor movement. Just one in 13 workers in the private sector is in a union, down from one in three a half-century ago.
But federation officials said yesterday that they feared that this new coalition would be competition and create an unnecessary distraction. One official questioned how effective the coalition would be in unionizing workers, considering that four of the five unions, except for the service employees, have been losing members.
The service employees’ union, with more than 1.7 million members, is spearheading efforts to form this coalition at the same time that it is threatening to secede from the A.F.L.-C.I.O. At a meeting in San Francisco on Saturday, the service employees’ executive board voted to give its top leadership authority to quit the main federation, if necessary.
"The union movement must focus on uniting with us the 9 out of 10 workers who have no union," the union’s board said in a statement. "Without doing so, we not only cannot build a broad movement for social and economic justice, but we can’t even win consistently at the bargaining table or in the legislative arena for the small minority of workers who still have a union."
Andrew L. Stern, the service employees’ president, has said repeatedly in recent months that unless the main federation becomes far more aggressive about organizing nonunion workers, his union would pull out and seek to "build something stronger." Mr. Stern has also warned that his union would secede if Mr. Sweeney wins a new four-year term.
Mr. Sweeney, who has headed the labor federation for nearly a decade, said he had enough support to assure re-election at its convention in Chicago in late July.
Responding to the five unions’ plan to create a new coalition, Mr. Sweeney said yesterday: "We all have the same goals, and we need to commit to work together to resolve the differences because if ever there was a time for the union movement to be united, this is it – with working people under the biggest assault in 80 years. Disunity just plays into the hands of the worst enemies of workers."
Mr. Stern has said that he hopes any new pro-growth union coalition will someday include the International Brotherhood of Carpenters, which quit the federation in 2001.
Union officials backing the new coalition say it will engage in multi-union organizing drives – something rarely done – seeking to unionize tens of thousands of workers at various major companies.
In recent weeks, several officials from the Teamsters, the food and commercial workers and Unite Here have hinted that their unions might also secede from the federation. But some of Mr. Sweeney’s supporters say those threats are largely designed to increase pressure on him not to run for re-election.
Copyright 2005 The Ne
w York Times