CTW Coalition Announces Organizing Drive
To Begin on April 24-28 in 35 Major Cities

The Change to Win coalition will launch its massive organizing campaign in 35 major cities on April 24-28, as part of an effort to unionize some 50 million workers in industries where jobs cannot be outsourced easily. The seven-union labor federation unveiled its recruiting plans at a gathering of 2,000 CTW officials, organizers and members in Las Vegas, adopting as its slogan, “Make Work Pay.”

“We are going to reach out to those workers who are not yet organized and to members of the public that understand and support the notion that this country can¹t exist without a vibrant middle class,” said Anna Burger, Chair of Change to Win. “This campaign will empower the millions of workers to help them effect real change to make work pay.”

The CTW’s organizing convention, March 19-22, focused on creating local campaign teams and a new model for cross-union organizing. According to a CTW press release, “the goal of the teams will be to create effective and strong organizations with the power to let every employer know that when they oppose any group of workers trying to unite for a decent life, they will not be confronted by one union, but by seven unions representing six million members.”

CTW Executive Director Greg Tarpinian said that since the founding convention last September, the seven unions “have been collaborating as never before; the leadership and staff of each union have been working together, and the unions have integrated their organizing, global, political and capital power.”

The Problems with the CTW OrganizIng Plans Are in the Details

Change to Win leaders should be congratulated for proposing to organize millions of workers who don’t belong to unions and for initiating a plan aimed at achieving this important goal. But there are several questions that deserve serious consideration:

• What, precisely, does CTW expect to accomplish in the four days of campaigning (April 24-28)?

• Why organize in 35 cities simultaneously? Isn’t that far more than CTW can handle?

• Except for the SEIU, several of the seven CTW unions have either poor or mediocre organizing records. How effective a role can these unions play in such a massive organizing effort?

• Wouldn’t it be wiser to work out an organizing partnership with the AFL CIO, which has 52 unions in industries that are different from those belonging to CTW’s seven unions?

• Where will the staffing and resources come from in the 35-city organizing campaign? Have particular companies been targeted in each of the cities?

• How many workers does CTW expect to organize over what period of time?

Some CTW leaders are comparing their organizing campaign with that of the CIO of the 1930s, when millions of workers flocked into unions. Burger said: “We must remember that auto, steel, and other basic manufacturing jobs weren¹t always the good middle-class jobs they became after World War II.”

The CTW is to be applauded for raising the bar on labor’s organizing efforts, which have been timid and woefully inadequate. But if its leaders expect results to match their rhetoric, they will have to find ways to involve their six million members in their organizing campaigns.

Our weekly "LaborTalk" and "World of Labor" columns can be viewed at our Web site: www.laboreducator.org. Harry Kelber's e-mail address is: hkelber@igc.org.