<1368431">Usa, mercato lavoro, sindacato Nyt 05-07-30
<2752668">Un terzo sindacato abbandona l’Afl-Cio
Steven Greenhouse
<2752669">Tre federazioni sindacali americane, che organizzano 4 milioni di lavoratori, hanno abbandonato l’Afl-Cio.
Dopo il sindacato degli autotrasportatori (Teamsters) e dei servizi (Service Employees International Union) è uscito questa settimana l’Afl-Cio, che ora raggruppa 53 federazioni e rappresenta 9 milioni di lavoratori, anche il sindacato United Food and Commercial Workers (alimentaristi e commercio) uno dei maggiori sindacati americani con 1,3 milioni di iscritti. Suo presidente è Joe Hansen: «Occorre un cambiamento fondamentale nel movimento dei lavoratori, che deve impegnarsi nell’organizzazione per rafforzare il movimento operaio».
Il Food and Commercial Workers è il principale sindacato dei lavoratori dei supermercati, di quelli che confezionano la carne e lavorano il pollame.
Il nuovo raggruppamento sindacale Change to Win Coalition è composto dalle tre federazioni scissioniste, da altre tre rimaste nell’Afl-Cio: United Farm Workers (agricoltura), the Laborers’ International Union of North America (Sindacato internazionale del Nord America), Unite Here (Unisciti qui, abbigliamento, alberghiero e ristorazione), e da una quarta l’United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America (carpentieri e falegnami), uscita da Afl-Cio nel 2001.
La convenzione di fondazione sarà tenuta il 27 settembre a Cincinnati, quartier generale di diverse grandi corporation, compresa Cintas, una grande società di lavanderie e divise che Teamsters, Unite Here ed altri sindacati stanno cercando di organizzare.
La prima campagna in progetto sarà quella di ottenere aumenti salariali per i lavoratori dei grandi magazzini Wall-Mart, per poi poterli sindacalizzare. Food and Commercial Workers aveva già iniziato questa campagna con Afl-Cio, non si sa se continuerà a collaborare.
Nyt 05-07-30
<1368433">Third Union Is Leaving A.F.L.-C.I.O.
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
The United Food and Commercial Workers, one of the nation’s five largest labor unions, quit the A.F.L.-C.I.O. yesterday, becoming the third big union to leave the nation’s main federation this week.
Joe Hansen, president of the union, which has 1.3 million members, said his union was committing itself to a new coalition that includes the two other unions that pulled out, the Teamsters and the Service Employees International Union.
"We have set a new course," Mr. Hansen said in a telephone news briefing. "There needs to be a fundamental change in the labor movement and a concentration on building worker power through organizing."
The Food and Commercial Workers is the main union representing supermarket workers, meat-packing workers and poultry-processing workers.
Members of the new group say the A.F.L.-C.I.O., now down to 53 unions, has not moved aggressively to stop the decline of organized labor. The insurgents, the Change to Win Coalition, intend to foster a resurgence.
The coalition also includes three unions that remain in the federation – the United Farm Workers, the Laborers’ International Union of North America and Unite Here, which represents apparel, hotel and restaurant workers – and the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, which left in 2001.
The three unions that withdrew represent more than 4 million workers; until last Monday the federation represented 13 million workers.
Officials in the new coalition said they planned to hold their founding convention on Sept. 27 in Cincinnati. They said they chose that city because it is a headquarters of many corporations, including Cintas, a large laundry and uniform company that the Teamsters, Unite Here and other unions are seeking to organize.
Mr. Hansen said his union planned to push ahead with its No. 1 campaign, to pressure Wal-Mart Stores to increase its wages, as a prelude to seeking to unionize it. The Food and Commercial Workers had been working with the A.F.L.-C.I.O. on that effort , but it is unclear to what extent the insurgent unions and the labor federation will now cooperate.
At this week’s federation convention in Chicago, many union leaders accused the insurgent unions of undermining labor solidarity.
Mr. Hansen said he looked to the new group to help revive labor by mounting large, expensive, multiunion organizing drives against large corporations. His union does not have a reputation for vigorous organizing, but Mr. Hansen said: "I’m going to devote as much money as I can to organizing. It’s essential for us."
Copyright 2005 The New York Times
