Saturday, June 30, 2007

Unions Should be Model Employers



Unions like SEIU should be model employers, leading the way in protecting basic workers' rights and respecting workers' quality of life. By attacking workers' voices on the job, proposing a two-tiered system for retiree healthcare like Safeway did in '04, denying workers adequate reimbursement for their commute to worksites, and mandating weekend work, SEIU sounds more and more like a profit-oriented, heartless corporation rather than a labor union. Hypocritical? Or typical of any hierarchical business or organization? How can SEIU Local 721 pride itself on improving the lives of 85,000 city, county, and non-profit workers throughout California when it can't protect the work conditions and benefits of its own employees? Well, luckily for the "labor industry" staff unions like Union Professionals United (formerly UURLA) are stepping up to hold the big purple monster accountable to its own values. Who knows, maybe if UPU manages to succeed in helping SEIU management acknowledge its own contradictions, they may thank us for the therapy. Then we can start charging a fee.

Check out photos from UPU's Friday Info picket

1 comment:

theonlyway said...

Better yet, how are we to build a labor "movement" around college graduates that work for a year (maybe) then decide they can't take the abuse any longer and move on or go back to school? "Movements" are only built around experience, knowledge, and leadership, this will never happen if the only people who last long enough to reach leadership positions are those who keep their mouths shut, take the cards that are dealt them, and in turn really show no leadership.