{"id":18374,"date":"2021-04-14T12:35:40","date_gmt":"2021-04-14T19:35:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=18374"},"modified":"2021-04-14T12:37:34","modified_gmt":"2021-04-14T19:37:34","slug":"the-grassroots-battle-to-change-americas-labor-laws","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2021\/04\/14\/the-grassroots-battle-to-change-americas-labor-laws\/","title":{"rendered":"The Grassroots Battle To Change America\u2019s Labor Laws"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

To fight for historic worker rights legislation, major unions and the socialist left are joining forces like never before.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
April 13, 2021 (The Daily Poster)<\/td><\/a><\/td><\/a><\/td><\/a><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\n

This report was written by Sam Mellins.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the first time ever, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is joining forces with major unions on a national campaign. On March 7, DSA, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and International Union of Painters and Associated Trades (IUPAT) launched<\/a> an effort with an ambitious goal: getting Congress to pass the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act. If signed into law, the legislation would be the most significant labor rights bill since the New Deal era. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the past month, thousands of volunteers and organizers representing both DSA and the unions have made over 500,000 phone calls<\/a> to voters in key legislators\u2019 home states, asking voters to tell their representatives to support the PRO Act. This month, DSA and the unions plan on escalating the campaign with in-person rallies and town halls. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The collaboration offers something new to both sides, organizers told The Daily Poster<\/em>. Though individual DSA chapters have worked with IUPAT and CWA locals before, walking picket lines and providing strike support, collaborating with unions on the national level offers the organization the credibility of labor groups that are major representatives of the working class, something that has so far proved<\/a> elusive<\/a> for the socialist group. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The unions, for their part, are able to access DSA\u2019s passionate volunteer base. Both sides of the coalition told The Daily Poster<\/em> that they hope that this campaign is just the beginning of a much closer working relationship between organized labor and the socialist left. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coming Together<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Though DSA is officially a staunch supporter<\/a> of organized labor, relations between DSA and major unions have not always been smooth. In 2019, DSA activists were kicked out of a New York City CWA meeting, after being accused of plotting to infiltrate the union<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mistrust may have come from DSA\u2019s newness as a major political force, Philadelphia-based DSA organizer Mindy Isser suggested. \u201cUnions may think, \u2018We\u2019ve been around forever, we\u2019ve been representing our members\u2019 interests forever, we\u2019ve never heard of these people, and suddenly they want to call the shots,\u201d she said. \u201cIt takes time for trust to be built, but we\u2019re building it.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the PRO Act, the groups have found something that they can both fully get behind. The bill, which passed the House of Representatives on March 9, would provide a dramatic boost to the U.S.\u2019s beleaguered labor unions by weakening state right-to-work laws<\/a>, allowing the National Labor Relations Board to fine companies $50,000 per violation of labor laws, and banning companies from holding mandatory anti-unionization meetings, among other provisions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe PRO Act will revolutionize workers’ lives in this country. It will give millions of workers the right to form a union,\u201d Isser said. \u201cWe\u2019d be able to stop being so defensive, fighting rollbacks and attacks on working people. Having a much larger movement would mean that we\u2019d be able to be on the attack.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From that new, stronger position, Isser believes the movement would be in a better position to fight for goals like universal healthcare and green jobs programs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One section of the PRO Act that has weathered<\/a> some critique<\/a> is its provision amending labor law to reclassify many non-salaried workers from being contractors to employees, which would make them eligible to unionize. Critics claim that this provision would have the same effect as AB5, a 2019 California law<\/a> reclassifying contractors and limiting freelance work that is widely seen as having harmed freelancers<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But such a critique is either a misunderstanding or a bad-faith attack, Indianapolis-based labor lawyer Brandon Magner told The Daily Poster<\/em>. All the PRO Act would do, Magner said, is amend labor laws to give unionization rights to contractors whose services are \u201cessential\u201d to the businesses they work for, such as rideshare drivers or many construction workers. In contrast to the California law, which affected all freelancers not specifically exempted from its provisions, the PRO Act would affect only contractors who actively seek out unionization. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUnless you and people in your workplace want to avail yourselves of those options, it\u2019s not going to be an issue for you,\u201d Magner said. \u201cIf you get past all the fearmongering, it\u2019s giving workers a tool.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Megan Romer, a freelance writer and DSA member who lives in southwest Louisiana, acknowledged that AB5 \u201cdid mess things up for freelancers\u201d in California. But Romer said that the problems with AB5 don\u2019t apply to the PRO Act. \u201cThe only thing that it would change is, if I wanted to form a union, I could. It wouldn\u2019t be illegal,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Power of Phone Banks<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

So far, 45 Democratic Senators have signed on to the PRO Act, and Majority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., has promised that if all 50 Senators in the Democratic caucus support the bill, it will get a floor vote in the Senate<\/a>. But to reach that point, the five recalcitrant Democratic Senators \u2014 Angus King, Mark Kelly, Krysten Sinema, Mark Warner, and, of course, Joe Manchin \u2014 have to be persuaded to sign on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s where the DSA and union campaign comes in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In its phone banks, DSA volunteers haven\u2019t been calling the senators directly. Rather, they\u2019ve been calling into Arizona, Maine, Virginia, and West Virginia \u2014 the holdout Senators\u2019 home states \u2014 and asking voters to tell their Senators to support the PRO Act. DSA\u2019s phone-banking software enables callers to connect voters directly to the Senators\u2019 offices. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the campaign\u2019s first \u201cweek of action,\u201d volunteers made 504,916 calls, said Gustavo Gordillo, a DSA member and one of the lead organizers of the campaign. Voters have left over 1,000 voicemails with Kelly and Sinema\u2019s offices alone, the campaign claims<\/a>. Recently, Bernie Sanders volunteers have also been using the senator\u2019s network to recruit volunteers<\/a> to make calls on behalf of the campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor the most part, the people that we\u2019re talking to have not heard of the PRO Act, so it\u2019s also an opportunity for a mass public education push,\u201d Gordillo said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople are inspired when we\u2019re saying, \u2018One phone call to your senator isn\u2019t going to move the needle, but that\u2019s why we\u2019re making thousands of calls in a coordinated way together,\u2019\u201d Gordillo said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For DSA, the campaign is also a chance to see if its highly<\/a> organized<\/a> regional chapters<\/a> can translate their local power into an effective national campaign. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t really done this kind of fieldwork that\u2019s nationally coordinated in DSA before,\u201d Gordillo said, noting that while many chapters organized in support of Bernie Sanders\u2019 2020 presidential campaign, those efforts were organized on the local rather than national level. The campaign for the PRO Act is \u201cmore unified\u201d than DSA\u2019s efforts on behalf of the Bernie campaign, Gordillo said: \u201cMembers from all over the country are meeting each other through this work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DSA\u2019s previous issue campaigns have mostly focused on city- or state-level issues, rather than trying to move some of the most powerful politicians in the country. But Gordillo is hopeful that working on the national level, DSA\u2019s hundreds of thousands of calls will move \u2014 or scare \u2014 their targets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Gordillo put it, \u201cIf we can get their constituents to call them about a bill, we can get them to vote for somebody else.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re On The Same Team\u201d<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

While DSA has taken the lead on phone banking, IUPAT has been planning public demonstrations leading up to the campaign\u2019s May 1 day of action. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The PRO Act is an issue that can unite the union\u2019s otherwise politically divided membership, IUPAT communications director Ryan Kekeris said. While internal polling last year showed that nearly half of IUPAT\u2019s membership supported Trump in the presidential election, the same polls also found that more than three quarters wanted to see the PRO Act passed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The public-facing nature of the campaign is the product of a lesson learned from the failure<\/a> of the Employee Free Choice Act, a bill also designed to strengthen unions, Ryan Kekeris said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though Obama promised to pass the bill during the 2008 campaign, it sputtered<\/a> early in his first term. IUPAT and other unions supported the bill, but didn\u2019t launch a public facing campaign to push for it. \u201cThe downfall of the Employee Free Choice Act was a wait-and-see approach where we trusted in the Democratic Party to deliver on something they said they would,\u201d Kekeris said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn direct opposition to that now, we\u2019re saying we\u2019re not going to wait,\u201d Kekeris continued. \u201cWe\u2019re going to go out into the states and the districts, and organize.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To prove their seriousness, IUPAT has also made a pledge: Any senator who doesn\u2019t support the PRO Act won\u2019t receive any support from IUPAT in future elections, whether in canvassing or contributions. \u201cThis really is our litmus test,\u201d Kekeris said. \u201cIf they want our members\u2019 money and time, then they have to be responsive to our members\u2019 political demands.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IUPAT and CWA members have also been joining the DSA-led phone banks. Even in a union with a large percentage of Trump supporters, Kekeris has found that many of his IUPAT colleagues have developed positive feelings towards DSA because of their shared work on the PRO Act. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe do all know that we\u2019re on the same team. I haven\u2019t heard anything remotely negative,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kekeris, who is a DSA member, sees the organizations\u2019 collaboration extending beyond the PRO Act campaign, to pushing for green infrastructure projects and other priorities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have a lot of shared priorities and values,\u201d Kekeris said. \u201cThe closer we build relationships, the more that will benefit us, and the more political power our members will have.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

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To fight for historic worker rights legislation, major unions and the socialist left are joining forces like never before. April 13, 2021 (The Daily Poster) This report was written by Sam Mellins. For the first time ever, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is joining forces with major unions on… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18374"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18374"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18374\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18376,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18374\/revisions\/18376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}