Labor’s Main Challenge – January 7, 2005 1Labor’s Main Challenge: Increasing Political Power for Working Families American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIOLabor’s Main Challenge – January 7, 2005 At a time when downsizing, outsourcing and off-shoring are becoming household words, working people are under attack as never before. A recently re-elected President Bush and the conservative majority in Congress are busy unraveling the social safety net that has been in place for seven decades. Corporations from Wal-Mart to Microsoft are driving down wages, cutting back health care coverage and other benefits, and sending jobs overseas. Labor unions are under siege in every sector of the economy, and, as the last line of defense for working Americans, the labor movement’s survival and success is important to every American who cares about economic security and social justice. There is a renewed debate about how to make the labor movement more effective, so that we can once again be a strong voice for union members, for workers who want to join together with us, and for others who may never organize but still need to win their piece of the American Dream and their place in American democracy. This self-examination is healthy, and the labor movement needs to find new ways to become stronger and more successful. But as our friends have often told us, it is less important for the labor movement to look in the mirror than to look out the window – at millions of working Americans who need our help to increase their incomes, secure their retirements, get and keep health insurance for their families, and obtain new opportunities for education, training and career advancement. We need to set strategies and plan programs to achieve these goals. Then, we should turn our attention to the structural changes that would be needed to make these efforts succeed. While we are re-examining and restructuring the labor movement, we need to be united and mobilized against the assault by the Bush administration and Corporate America; we cannot afford to be distracted or divided. The AFL-CIO’s Unique Role: Building Political Power for Working Americans To fight back – and win – working people need more power in our workplaces, our industries, the capital markets and – most of all – in the political process. Building and wielding political power is how we can restore our right to organize, exert more leverage on employers of all kinds, and win lasting victories on issues ranging from raising the minimum wage to providing health care coverage for all Americans, preserving Social Security, improving our public schools and public services, and making sure that trade agreements protect workers’ rights, instead of off-shoring our jobs. Together with other core activities – organizing, collective bargaining, capital strategies and global solidarity – political and legislative efforts should receive top priority from the AFL-CIO in planning its strategies, designing its structures and allocating its resources. Moreover, political action is mutually reinforcing with many of these other essential efforts. For instance, political action can constrain the forces that obstruct organizing campaigns and give legal support to workers struggling to exercise their freedom to form unions, which ought to be a basic human right. Similarly, political action is also integral to efforts to build international solidarity and to make better use of workers’ capital resources. 2Labor’s Main Challenge – January 7, 2005 Creating a strong and unified voice in the political process is the basic, bedrock reason why we have a national labor federation, the AFL-CIO. While individual unions can advocate for workers in their industries and occupations, only the AFL-CIO can speak for all union members and give voice to unrepresented workers as well. Fighting Back Against Bush’s Radical Agenda: The Need for Unity As it begins its second term, the Bush administration wants to dismantle the nation’s entire system of worker protections and social insurance. The administration is working overtime to eliminate overtime pay for more than 6 million workers, privatize Social Security, turn Medicare over to the HMOs, rewrite the tax code to make sure that wealthy Americans pay less and working Americans pay more, and threaten our fundamental rights to organize, bargain, and participate in the political and legislative processes. At a time like this, no union or group of unions can afford to go it alone. The only way we can win is when all of us work together and also reach out to unrepresented workers and other potential allies. How can we work together successfully? That is the most important question in the current debate about labor’s future. Transforming Labor’s Political, Legislative and Community Outreach Efforts For the past 10 years, the AFL-CIO and a growing number of unions have revamped our political action programs. Too often in the past, the labor movement participated too passively in the political and legislative process. Frequently, labor organizations would do little more than make campaign contributions to party organizations and individual candidates, work with congressional leaders and send mailings to union members reminding them which candidates had received unions’ endorsements. Often we did too little to work with our allies or to reach out to swing voters and constituency groups. Since 1995, the labor movement has experimented with new ways of participating in politics that mobilize members, emphasize issues, reach out to unrepresented workers and hold elected officials accountable for their actions. In 2004, our efforts modeled three essential elements for future success: labor unity, member mobilization, and outreach to unrepresented workers and other allies. While labor was more successful than ever at mobilizing our base, so were organizations on the other side of the fence, particularly business groups and the religious right. The disappointing outcome of the 2004 elections and the high stakes of the battles ahead offer even more reasons for the labor movement to take our own efforts to the next level, as well as to organize unrepresented workers. These are some of the strengths upon which we should build: Labor Unity: Almost every union took part in 2004. The AFL-CIO, individual unions, and state and local bodies worked