workers union rebrand
Out of context: Reply #3
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- sarahfailin0
Welcome to the “Worker Center.” These organizations are little more than labor unions by a different name. They organize unionization pushes and even bargain using union-style brinksmanship and corporate campaign tactics. Yet unlike an official labor union, worker centers don’t have to abide by federal labor law.
These organizations already exist. OUR Walmart, a worker center affiliated with the UFCW, organized those failed Black Friday protests. The Restaurant Opportunities Center—which was originally supposed to be called the Restaurant Organizing Center—is another. ROC, which has nine local affiliates in major American cities, is now actively trying to unionize the restaurant industry. A similar organization, Fast Food Forward, has initiated ongoing strikes at New York City’s fast food chains using professional union organizers to aid in its mission.
The AFL-CIO, not to be left behind, has also started a rebrand. Its non-union union organizing group, “Working America,” is technically classified as a “527.” That’s the same tax-exempt status used by political action committees and political parties. Based out of the AFL-CIO’s D.C. headquarters, Working America boasts some three million non-union members—people which the AFL-CIO still counts on its membership lists.