NET-workers

Tasini at Working Life opened a post about union democracy (quite a hot topic!) and asked the conversation to "get beyond the usual stuff."

The post and the comments are interesting, but I am going to single out one commenter who seems to hit the nail on the head. He calls the debate over leadership and democracy a "false dichotomy" and states:

My experience with UNITE-HERE and SEIU have taught me that strong leadership and membership involvement are not in conflict with one another--neither can exist without the other. (Ty, of Sindicalista)

Definitely check out his post if you have time -- he makes some very valid points and sets up a really cogent argument. This is a fine balance to strike, no doubt, but if we could just stop debating whether leaders should lead or the movement should be grassroots, then maybe we can start making some headway towards actually striking the balance.