Consolidated Union Leadership Support Amnesty Without Rank And File Support

By Chad MacDonald, Tuesday, February 2, 2010, 11:53 AM EST - posted on NumbersUSA

Last month we noticed that one of our active members: John Buck, Regional Organizer American Federation of Citizen Union Workers P.A.C., was sharing and leaving outstanding comments on our blogs and news stories and leaving Facebook posts about union leadership. John has been a member since January 17, 2009 and has sent more than 135 faxes to Congress. I wanted John to share his stories and e-mails What you see below is John's article. This blog is worth reading and talking about.


LABOR UNION SHAME: Consolidated Union Leadership Support Amnesty Without Rank And File Support
by John Buck

As many of us Union members experience the woes of unemployment, more and more of us have begun to question our leadership's stance on Amnesty. I'd like to help answer that question. It is not good news. As a former organizer for the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) in New York, New Jersey, and Delaware, let me fill you in on the state of the Unions.

AFL-CIO

In September, Richard Trumka replaced John Sweeney as President of the AFL-CIO. The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) includes 57 national and international unions representing 11.5 million members. Since the Sweeney takeover local Union mergers have exploded turning Union locals into what some call mega-locals. We were given many reasons for the mergers such as cost effectiveness and combined political power, but the true reason was to centralize power to squash dissent on a number of issues including: Amnesty and Open Borders.

UNI Global Union

Let’s talk about the Union Networks International (UNI) Global Union. UNI is the Global Union for skills and services. They represent 900 trade unions and 20 million workers worldwide (179 unions in the Americas and 3.5 million workers).

Here’s the question? Why would our leaders, who historically fought the influx of cheaper laborers and prevented illegal foreign labor at every step, start doing the opposite? Why would Union leader stop protecting the American workers? The answer has become clear. Our leadership has decided the mergers aren't over, they will continue, welcome to the UNI Global Union. You may not realize this but your trade may have already been affiliated without your consent or vote. Ask your leadership today!

You are in the process of being told that the only way to fight corporate globalism is a global union... that sounds great for the bosses who will be receiving dues money, and therefore paychecks from the low cost workers overseas to whom so many of our jobs have gone, but what about the American worker? We live here. We work here. The push for Amnesty only paves the road for the Open Borders flow of labor.

Leadership in Question

Joseph T. Hansen, President of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), President of the “Change to Win Federationâ€