Relative to Levins, Gerard, Acuff Discussion of AFL-CIO Mission and Strategies

Relative to Levins, Gerard, Acuff Discussion of AFL-CIO Mission and Strategies


Promising discussion.

A couple of problems with traditional Union approaches, even when strongly influenced by Socialist thought.

1.) Syndicalism - Collective Bargaining within an Economic Sector benefits only the workers in that economic sector and can be destructive of a larger Socialist Mission (e.g. IBEW gains in a Military Aircraft Engine Group operations, UAW gains in a post-fossil fuel environment and economy).

2.) The US vs. THEM mentality. Many, if not Most, if not All Unionized "shops" have a working/adversarial relationship with "Management" (Financial Workers, Directors, Decision Makers, Engineers, System Analysts and Programmers, Portfolio Managers, etc.) who are most often not Union members and therefore functioning somewhat at odds with the solidarity of Union brotherhood.

What is needed is the concept of One Big Union where Capitalists and their "exempt" workers would join and cooperate in a comprehensive socio/economic Mission. Socialists need to allocate resources. The fundamental questions relate to how resources are allocated to and within communities and among and within economic sectors. We need to understand and practice the fundamental accounting principle: United Assets minus United Liabilities = United Equity.


In Peace, Friendship, Community, Cooperation, and Solidarity,

Mike Morin