Tag Archives: IBEW

Unions seek ways to link with younger workers

11 Jan

from The Michigan Citizen:

Unions seek ways to link with younger workers

By Nyssa Rabinowitz

Capital News Service

LANSING — Union activism has dropped among younger workers, a trend that may bring innovation into union management.

“We don’t communicate the way our parents did,” said Sean Egan, 32, business manager of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers West Michigan Local 275. “Leadership needs to be more accessible.”

Most of the executive board of Egan’s local, based in Coopersville, is between 26 and 35, and its volunteers are about 35, so it has more participation from this age group than most, Egan said.

Egan became president of the local when he was 25 and served in that position for four years.

Egan is an example of a young union member who actively participates, said Mark Gaffney, president of the Michigan AFL-CIO.

Many, however, don’t because they don’t see anyone in union leadership who looks like them — all the leaders are older.

For example, most unions still publish newspapers or newsletters to communicate with their members instead of using social media like Facebook, Gaffney said.

And that’s not how much of the younger generation communicates, he said.

The drop in union activism isn’t uncommon, said David Reynolds, a labor historian at Wayne State University.

Union activity regularly goes through cycles, Reynolds said.

When unions’ influence is ebbing, they have less of a presence in new industries and jobs, which is where the majority of the younger workers are, he said. When unions grow, they generally grow in the same new areas and with a strong young worker presence.

The Great Depression is a great example, Reynolds said.

At the end of the Depression, young workers mobilized the union movement and began unionizing quickly. Once people saw that unions could benefit them, it encouraged others to try the same thing at their own workplaces, and within three months, three million workers were organized, he said.

That seems to be happening now, Reynolds said predicting that younger workers will become more involved in the future.

But that won’t happen without some help, the AFL-CIO’s Gaffney said.

The drop in active participation is a challenge for unions across the country, Gaffney said, but those in some states are doing better than others in attracting younger workers.

New York, California and Colorado unions all have more participation among younger workers, Gaffney said, and have done a more effective job marketing themselves to younger members.

Now Gaffney is taking up the charge to move Michigan in that direction.

He plans to reach out to younger leaders for advice on how to inspire younger members.

Egan said younger workers are important because they bring new perspectives and they have a better understanding of work-life balance than older colleagues.

If they don’t become engaged, the role of unions may diminish, Egan said. Unionization rates are going down, and it’s up to the young workers to find a system that works well.

Having someone who looks and talks like them will help spark their interest, Egan said.

For example, his local is moving toward monthly or quarterly webcast meetings so all members can take part, regardless of where they are.

There needs to be more communication between leaders and young workers and e-mail and texting could help bridge that generational gap, Egan said.

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Videos of Young Workers Fighting

2 Jul

ITUC Young Workers’ Solidarity Picket.
During the International Trade Union Confederation General Assembly meeting a few weeks ago, young workers from around the world joined their Canadian brothers and sisters in picketing at Hertz.  COPE (Canadian Office & Professional Employees Union) were on strike for five-months and just earlier this week came to a fair contract.  Maybe it was the support of all these young workers that made the difference:

Young Trade Unionists Join Forces.
In late March, the IBEW reached out to the Young Trade Unionists in Baltimore and asked what they could do to help the future of the labor movement.  The result was an effort to show the world the great work of the Young Trade Unionists, here is the video.  Watch it, then send it around:

AFSCME Generations.
Earlier this week, we posted on AFSCME Next Wavers being featured with their Retirees program at their International Convention this week.  Here is a great video they put together showing how the generations can learn a lot from each other:

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The Summit: Closing (Day 4)

14 Jun

Creating an institutionalized voice, such as a national youth council to advise the AFL-CIO Executive Board or a constituency group, and re-branding the labor movement to show that young people are the union were the two major demands Next Up Summit delegates told Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler on the final day of the conference. Young workers, excited by the opportunity to address the labor movement and with the hope that this is the beginning of a powerful rebirth, lectured the plenary on the need to create more opportunities to listen to young workers and devote resources and staff support to this effort.

The summit concluded with remarkable overlap between the various workgroup presentations on what the AFL-CIO, affiliates, and delegates themselves should do to improve organizing, communications, structure, and more generally speaking to young workers issues. In addition to demanding more institutionalization, workgroups suggested:

  • Training the AFL-CIO structure on how to talk with young workers, what their issues are, best strategies for engaging them
  • Create a database of all attendees to talk with each other
  • Develop a youth rapid response team for communications
  • Push for legislation to promote labor studies in high schools
  • Create literature that speaks to young workers
  • Host leadership roundtables for young workers and seasoned workers to talk
  • Mentorship program defined by youth and local needs, but supported by national
  • Joint sharing of elected positions (job-for-a-day, apprenticeship)
  • Training young workers on union basics and more specialized topics
  • Opportunities to change the leadership by having positions outside of elected roles
  • National bus tour
  • Jam for Jobs/Chili Cook Off
  • Quarterly meetings with leadership
  • “We are Union” commercial/you tube campaign
  • Recruitment through scholarships
  • Survey young workers before launching campaigns
  • Virtual classroom trainings
  • Highlight union victories in recent history (within the lifetime of young workers)
  • State young worker summits
  • Dedicated staff and resources from AFL-CIO
  • Council of young workers to advise national board
  • Organizing of the unorganized
  • Push state feds to implement Resolution 55
  • Letter from President Trumka to State Federations and CLCs to say that young worker engagement is a priority
  • Internship database
  • Young worker on AFL-CIO National Board with vote
  • Create more opportunities to challenge leadership when they do not fall in line with principles

Many of the delegates passionately called on their fellow young workers not to wait for the AFL-CIO to finish their report to affiliate leadership before following up.  At the conference IBEW members decided to continue their conversation about increasing young worker voices in their union by sharing emails and phone numbers.  A few delegates decided to put together a photo database of all the participants.  And another group put together a googlegroup to share best practices, frustrations, and, more broadly, to just keep the conversation going.

After the presentations, Reverend Romal Tune addressed the delegates calling for “fewer bosses and more leaders.”  Inspiring the group and inspired by them, Tune told the group, “This is not the next generation of leaders, because you’ve already stepped up.”

In preparation for the trip home, the audience was given AFGE buttons and luggage tags to show their support for TSA workers, 10,000 of whom at over 100 airports have been paying union dues despite the fact that they are legally barred from being recognized by the federal government.

Ending the session, Shuler said moving forward there are two questions: an internal question for unions on how to engage young workers already involved, and an external question on how to engage community groups, allies, and the unorganized.  She spoke of her experience being a 23 year-old female electrical worker, who the leadership did not know what to do with.  Promising that “Next Up will not fall flat,” she challenged the delegates to “hold leaders accountable” for work from the summit.  And in closing offered the unwavering support of the leadership and said that she had renewed hope because of the delegates.

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The Need for a Green Jobs Future

12 May

With Senators Kerry and Lieberman (and Graham) introducing their energy bill today, we need to remember who is taking on jobs in the energy field: young workers.  Reform can and should bring good, green jobs that cannot be off-shored and will make other American businesses more competitive.  Green jobs is America’s opportunity to return to manufacturing with young workers standing the most to gain.

Young workers are increasingly being steered into jobs in the energy field.  Why?  Because they are one of the few sources of jobs that pay well without needing a formal college education.  But these jobs need stronger health and safety standards and better focus on sustainability and renewable sources.

In Louisiana, along the way to the Gulf Coast where the oil spill occurred, are billboards lining the highways advertising jobs.  Much like in the mining field, oil workers understand the risks they take when they make the choice to put their lives on the line to take care of their families.  As Chuck Falgout, health, safety and environmental manager at Gulf Offshore Logistics told MSNBC: “There are always inherent elements of danger — there’s always a worst case scenario — but this is our livelihood.”

With lots of workers in the energy fields retiring, this has become a source of good jobs for young workers.  As NPR reported last year, “The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers says nearly half its members nationwide are up for retirement in the next few years”.  This requires attracting and training young workers, but it should also be an opportunity for us to update antiquated equipment to increase health and safety standards.

The three major workplace incidents this year all were in the energy field: Kleen Energy Plant explosion in Connecticut, Massey Energy mine collapse in West Virginia, and now the Deepwater Horizon fire and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.  We need stronger regulations with tough enforcement policies to ensure that young workers are not in dangering their lives for a decent paycheck.

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