We need an all of the above organizing strategy to transform industries and welcome tens of millions of workers into our movement. This is a resource challenge, a coordination challenge, and an intellectual challenge, to be sure.
But it’s first and foremost a political challenge, and the labor movement must confront the barriers in its way to build and grow. Here are a few ways to potentially inspire the level of organizing we need.
Idea #3: Share State Functions with Unions
In other countries, unemployment compensation is run using what’s called the Ghent system, where trade unions run quasi-public UC funds and distribute benefits to members and non-members alike.[1] The Ghent system drives union membership in those countries by connecting people to unions and giving unions a chance to talk to workers without employer pressure, leading to sky-high rates of membership.
American unions might want to adopt a similar model. Unions should consider working with state leaders to explore options. Perhaps states turn over administration of UC benefits to unions, or perhaps they create a voluntary supplemental UC benefit—subsidizing another month or two of UC if you sign up through the union hall and pay nominal fees.
However, the United States has a developed UC system, so transitioning system management to labor unions might be an onerous change.
But we could create a different, American version of the Ghent system. There are many types of state functions where partnering with unions could improve public service provision while fostering worker power.
For instance, imagine state community colleges and universities working with unions to run education, hospitality, or nursing courses. Unions have deep expertise in the professions they represent, and they often lead workplace skill trainings in organized shops. Working with labor to strengthen higher education would help states provide higher-quality training while connecting young people to the labor movement. At the same time, it would provide some income to unions while giving them a chance to connect with future industry members. And students might choose to join and take their membership into the workplace with them to help unionize future jobsites.
Or what if the government relied on unions to perform some inspection functions. State and local governments already carry out regular inspections of private businesses, such as health, building, fire, and safety inspections. If the government assigned those functions to union coalitions in the relevant industries, it would benefit the public in two ways. First, it would put the significant experience of unions in health and safety to use for the public—labor regularly inspects workplaces and has a deep institutional commitment to workplace safety. Second, it would give unions periodic access to unorganized workers, allowing unions to help the unorganized stand up for safety on the job.
This proposal would be especially impactful in industries with poor safety records. In the New York City construction industry, for example, union decline has led to a shocking increase in construction worker death rates.[2] If New York’s building trades led safety inspections at construction sites around the city, they could identify troubling safety violations and give workers safe, neutral advocates to report safety violations to. Imagine requiring every construction project in New York to undergo a random monthly inspection by the experts on construction safety, the building trades unions. Turning over or supplementing construction safety inspections with labor in New York City could well save lives.
And this proposal need not be limited to labor unions. For example, there is a large network of resident councils at nursing homes in states across the country.[3] These resident councils are essentially non-labor unions representing those who live in public or private nursing homes and other residential facilities.
Regrettably, nursing home abuse remains a significant issue, and states rarely have enough inspectors to adequately protect the elderly from abuse and neglect.[4] States might assign inspection and resident protection functions to a coalition of resident groups and healthcare worker unions. The coalition could safeguard residents from abuse, holding management accountable and requiring safe staffing levels and adequate training.
There are many ways to integrate unions into the work of the state. With their deep expertise in their subject matters and their professional organizations across the country, unions can be key partners to support state services while helping build worker power.
If you have thoughts on this subject, I’d love to hear them. Hit me up on Twitter or email.
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[1]See David Madland, The Future of Worker Voice and Power, Center for Am. Progress (Oct. 2016), https://cdn.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/06051753/WorkerVoice2.pdf; David Rolf, Shelby Clark & Corrie Watterson Bryant, Portable Benefits in the 21st Century, Aspen Institute (June 16, 2016), https://www.aspeninstitute.org/publications/portable-benefits-21st-century/; Matthew Dimick, Labor Law, New Governance, and the Ghent System, 90 N.C. L. Rev. 319 (2012). The Ghent system is an arrangement where labor unions administer unemployment benefits, which many scholars argue contributes to those countries’ high rates of union membership. It has become popular among American labor commentators. See id.
[2] Joe Maniscalco, Death Continues to Stalk NYC Construction Workers in 2018, Labor Press (Jan. 25, 2018), http://laborpress.org/death-continues-to-stalk-nyc-construction-workers-in-2018/; Dominique Bravo, Opinion, 2 Years, 31 Dead Construction Workers. New York Can Do Better, N.Y. Times (Jan. 16, 2017), https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/16/opinion/2-years-31-dead-construction-workers-new-york-can-do-better.html.
[3] There is a nation-wide right to organize resident unions at facilities funded by Medicaid or Medicare. See 42 U.S.C.A. § 1395i-3(C)(1)(A)(vii) (West) (for Medicare recipients); 42 U.S.C.A. § 1396r(C)(1)(A)(vii) (West) (for Medicaid recipients). My own research found that fourteen states significantly expand residents’ rights and resident council power beyond that. Eight of those require that facilities create resident councils in some or all circumstances, rather than just permitting or assisting them. Those eight states are Arkansas, California, Colorado (in facilities with 17 or more beds), Florida, Kansas (requiring operators “ensure the facilitation of the organization of” at least one resident council at assisted living facilities, residential health care facilities, and adult day care facilities; Kansas law also extends the right to organize to residents in boarding facilities), Minnesota (at residential mental health services programs), New Hampshire (at the state veteran’s home), and Oklahoma. Another fourteen states and the District of Columbia provide limited supplemental rights.
[4] See, e.g., Charlotte Huffman & Mark Smith, Criminal Caretakers: Lax Regulations Put Violent Offenders Ina Jaffe, Serious Nursing Home Abuse Often Not Reported to Police, Federal Investigators Find, NPR (Aug. 28, 2017, 5:00 AM), https://www.npr.org/2017/08/28/546460187/serious-nursing-home-abuse-often-not-reported-to-police-federal-investigators-fi; Catherine Haws, Elder Abuse in Residential Long-Term Care Settings: What Is Known and What Information Is Needed?, in Elder Mistreatment: Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation in Aging America (2003).