www.newsandletters.org

NEWS & LETTERS, December 2001

Column: Workshop Talks by Htun Lin

More dues for less

They were trying to sell this as a "benefit" for low- wage workers in nursing homes. We haven't seen such a strong negative reaction at Kaiser since management demanded and got a two-tier wage structure back in 1986. Rank-and-filers threw out the corrupt old union bosses who betrayed them in that failed strike, but to this day the two-tier wage system pits one worker against another.

The new dues proposal also pits one set of workers in the local against another. One worker said, "Union officials are using the same divide-and-conquer corporate tactics often used by management against us." In 1986 Kaiser tried to convince us to accept their two-tier wage system by claiming current workers would not only continue to make more pay but would even get an extra bonus upon ratification.

Today many professional grade workers, such as X-ray techs, see the union's scheme as a similar clever ploy. This scheme was sold to nursing home workers as "dues relief," claiming: you make less, you pay less. Manipulating the low-wage workers with this promise, union bureaucrats pushed this through.

To ensure victory, the bureaucrats not only sent special absentee ballots to all nursing home workers urging a "yes" vote, they even sent a convoy of buses to take the "yes" voters to the polls.  Some workers openly wondered if these tactics were learned from Florida Republicans who selectively counted pro-Bush absentee ballots.

The "dues relief" for nursing home workers is a mirage. Even for these low-wage workers, the new scheme means some part-timers will pay more than the 2% advertised by the bureaucrats. In any case, nursing home workers will still be paying too much to the union, considering what they make under the union contract. The union bureaucrats are exposing their own failure to gain an equitable living wage for thousands of nursing home workers. Furthermore, other workers in higher-paying technical jobs would see their dues skyrocket.

Kaiser workers overwhelmingly rejected the proposed dues changes. Four years into the top-down initiated  partnership with Kaiser management which gave Local 250 a lock on organizing new jobs created through Kaiser's restructuring, workers increasingly feel that every union initiative now is to enhance the flow of dues income.

Many workers are asking what could possibly justify this drastic dues increase. Despite this partnership, representation has in fact declined. Countless workers complain how hard it is to get any union help in the workplace. Many of our grievances are now channeled into a management-union committee designed to paper them over instead of giving them a traditional full hearing.

RANK-AND-FILE COMMITTEE

Several hundred workers met and formed a rank-and-file committee to challenge the legitimacy of the dues increase vote. Shocked SEIU bureaucrats responded by saying they will institute the new dues structure only at sites where it was approved and will hold off at Kaiser where it was overwhelmingly rejected. The rank-and-file committee wasn't impressed by this "compromise," and has started a recall campaign against top local union officials.

They also called for de-authorization of the local, which means an open union shop. This shows that workers are so alienated from their union that they actually want the right to consent to membership. This makes sense where the union has decided to totally collaborate with management. We don't want to get rid of the union, but rank-and-filers want to reassert their control.

One worker cited the statement placed in front of the Constitution and by-laws in 1988 when a new administration came in office as the union came out from under trusteeship: "Local 250 members are free to determine their own fate now." The fraudulent practices committed by today's union bureaucrats reveals sharply how top-down business unionism will always fail to live up to declarations like this.

The rank-and-file committee is now asserting workers' independence. We want to think and speak for ourselves, especially on what it means to be a member. The very creation of the labor-management partnership sidelined workers and our concept of a union.

It is important that this revolt be about more than just stopping them from stealing more of our money.  Maybe this dues revolt can signal a renewed drive toward genuine unionism where we workers organize ourselves in the workplace, including a drive for a living wage for nursing home workers and all other low-paid workers.

Return to top

Home l News & Letters Newspaper l Back issues l News and Letters Committees l Dialogues l Raya Dunayevskaya l Contact us l Search

Subscribe to News & Letters

Published by News and Letters Committees
Designed and maintained by  Internet Horizons