11.21.2005
Why is being anti-union not embarrassing for progressive people?
Last week I met some friends at a local bar and a recurring problem popped up that I've been meaning to share with the blog-o-sphere. I met a friend of mine and her coworkers, and the topic of unions came up (as it always seems to with me). Two twenty-something guys I was with each said something like, oh, I don't support unions.
Now, one of these men admitted that he was a former hospital executive, so I guess his anti-union attitude is easy to explain (and ultimately, to dismiss). But the other is a young, progressive guy, who works on international development, is from a union-friendly place (Philadelphia) and even had family members who belonged to a union. And he's not alone - I meet people just like him probably weekly who just don't like unions.
So there are really two issues that come to mind for me here. First, why is this guy anti-union? This is clearly an important question, but I am going to leave it aside for now (primarily because I don't know the answer yet!). But the second issue is also perplexing: why is it politically correct in 2005 to openly say that you are anti-union? There are many progressive causes that have won the battle of political correctness (as least in progressive circles). It's not acceptable (almost regardless of your true feelings) to publicly state that 'I hate women,' or 'I hate gay people,' or 'I don't support civil rights." So, why is it ok for this generation of young progressives to run around saying they are anti-union?
One interesting thing to note, I think, is that people obviously differentiate between "union" and "worker." I doubt that even these progressive folks would say that they don't support the working class, or that they don't support workers, but they seem to feel fine saying that they don't support unions.
I'm not saying that the fight for political correctness is the most important fight of the day for labor, but I do think that have union-support among progressive people is really the baseline that we need to start building from. What do others think?
Now, one of these men admitted that he was a former hospital executive, so I guess his anti-union attitude is easy to explain (and ultimately, to dismiss). But the other is a young, progressive guy, who works on international development, is from a union-friendly place (Philadelphia) and even had family members who belonged to a union. And he's not alone - I meet people just like him probably weekly who just don't like unions.
So there are really two issues that come to mind for me here. First, why is this guy anti-union? This is clearly an important question, but I am going to leave it aside for now (primarily because I don't know the answer yet!). But the second issue is also perplexing: why is it politically correct in 2005 to openly say that you are anti-union? There are many progressive causes that have won the battle of political correctness (as least in progressive circles). It's not acceptable (almost regardless of your true feelings) to publicly state that 'I hate women,' or 'I hate gay people,' or 'I don't support civil rights." So, why is it ok for this generation of young progressives to run around saying they are anti-union?
One interesting thing to note, I think, is that people obviously differentiate between "union" and "worker." I doubt that even these progressive folks would say that they don't support the working class, or that they don't support workers, but they seem to feel fine saying that they don't support unions.
I'm not saying that the fight for political correctness is the most important fight of the day for labor, but I do think that have union-support among progressive people is really the baseline that we need to start building from. What do others think?
Comments:
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Interesting, kitten, that you say the upheaval makes people aware that the labor movement exists and is dynamic. The impression that I get is that people actually think the split shows how weak labor is. While many labor activists may see hope in the split, people tend to see infighting as a sign of weakness, not strength.
Hope you don't mind if I chime in here. I work as a consultant to both labor unions and nonprofit community organizing groups, so I get to see this from a couple of sides.
I think there is a cultural problem. Labor has never adopted the culture of PC. Even when HERE or other unions were doing more for real live black and brown low wage workers than identity movements ever thought of, they never learned to talk the game. Partly this happened because they had a lot of old white guys in leadership who had their own working class culture and not the imagination to validate anyone else's.
But also, the unions never got the PC thing because they literally (still) can't understand forms of organizing that revolve around other attributes of folks beyond what they do to earn money. Unions tend to be mystified if a community organizing group can turn out a lot of people to walk a precinct with them, for example. They don't understand passionate movements that run without much money (or dues) and without much staff.
If we are going to take this country back, we need both kinds of formations.
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I think there is a cultural problem. Labor has never adopted the culture of PC. Even when HERE or other unions were doing more for real live black and brown low wage workers than identity movements ever thought of, they never learned to talk the game. Partly this happened because they had a lot of old white guys in leadership who had their own working class culture and not the imagination to validate anyone else's.
But also, the unions never got the PC thing because they literally (still) can't understand forms of organizing that revolve around other attributes of folks beyond what they do to earn money. Unions tend to be mystified if a community organizing group can turn out a lot of people to walk a precinct with them, for example. They don't understand passionate movements that run without much money (or dues) and without much staff.
If we are going to take this country back, we need both kinds of formations.
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