In New York, much like across thecountry, the battle continues with the State Nurses Associations and SEIU/1199. In a time when unions preach that unity is utmost importance and utilize the manta, “united we bargain, divided we beg”, the SEIU is striving to conquer all of healthcare even if that means “raiding.” Raiding is a growing trend (in both healthcare and non-healthcare settings) within the unions, in which a rival union pushes for the decertification of an incumbent union in exchange for a chance of representation of the workforce. Read More “August 2008”

With the election cycle heating up, the supporters of the once defeated HR800 (card check) Bill are building up steam to push this legislation forward with a renewed vigor.The AFL/CIO has never stopped building their grassroots support and hasbeen recruiting volunteers on a national level. Recently John Sweeney took over 3,000 of these supporters to Washington D.C. to shore up theirsupport and to demonstrate to the politicians that they are being watched and will be held accountable if they chose not to support the passage of this bill. Read More “As The Election Heats Up”

It seems every 6 months or so we are getting news of another union merger or organizing agreement betweenunions. This time, it is the California Nurses Association (CNA)/National Nurses Organizing Committee, United American Nurses and Massachusetts Nurses Association who have agreed to merge. Read More “Another Super Union”

How Unions Factor in the “Occupy Wall Street” Protests

“The folks that control this country care about one thing… how the stock market goes what the bond market does… how the bonuses goes. We have a very simple strategy: Read More “Anger, Frustration and Unrest:”

2014 is off to a fast start with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)
Read More “An Intriguing Year for Big Labor in 2014”

I was sitting at my computer the other day reading about the strike at Verizon and looking at the videos and pictures of the “chaos” on the streets. It took me directly back to my days when I was working as a national strike coordinator with the union. I realized that many people don’t really understand the complexity of a strike. Have you ever asked yourself what kind of manipulation takes place to convince 45,000 workers to walk away from their company to go on strike? With over 20 years of working inside the union movement, I had the opportunity to spend some of these years working as a strike coordinator. Read More “An Insider’s View into the Anatomy of a Strike”

And a Preview of What Is to Come

The “quickie” election countdown hasconcluded and the rule should be considered permanent. April 14, 2015 arguably witnessed the most sweeping changes ever implemented by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) since labor law was transformed byits very creation.
Read More “A Former Union Official’s Perspective on the Quickie Election”

In Union Alliances

Listening to the Rolling Stones last week reminded me of an alliance forged between the California Nurses Association (CNA) and the United Steelworkers (USW). While the USW wouldn’t get what they wanted, the CNA surely got what they needed. Read More ““You Can’t Always Get What You Want””

As I wait for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to come back with a decision on how they are going to change the union election process I have been pondering my former years as a union official and the tactics I would deploy when running campaigns from the national level. I recall when I was an Organizing Director for the United Steelworkers (USW) and accepted a challenge to organize mini-mills. We were losing members in the larger “full service” steel mills (integratedsteel mills) with a vast amount of foreign made steel coming into the country. So called, mini-mills were popping up all over the United States and they were mostly non-union. We also had an enormous amount ofnon-union vendors and/or contractors with permanent stations and workforces at the mills that depended on USW membership support to be able to compete for their jobs. The union was quite angry because for the most part, we had the skilled workforce to consolidate these jobs into our membership.
Read More “Working From The Inside Out”

Smokescreens and Sabotage

Organizing tactics and strategiesaffect every aspect of the union. During my organizing days, everythingmy team and I did were carefully calculated to influence the way futurecampaigns would be run. These days, while teaching management training courses, I mention how we took a “victory by any means necessary” approach. One of the most common questions I receive is “why would a union want to destroy a company when all it is doing is hurting their own members who won’t have a job if the company closes”. Read More “Where There is Smoke There is Fire”