Re: A Right-wing ballot initiative

[Michael Eisenscher <meisenscher@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 06:55 PM 3/30/98 -0800, R. Anders Schneiderman wrote:

>Although the wave of propositions like 226 may do some short-term damage,
>in the long term I think it'll be one of the better things that happened to
>the union movement in recent history.  In California, the bigger unions
>often spend a fair amount of money on initiative campaigns, but almost all
>of the money goes to consultants and media.  Virtually none of it is spent
>on building up a grassroots machine.  If the Right keeps running
>initiatives like this, then either unions will get completely stomped
>(which I doubt), or they'll have to start putting money into base-building
>again.  It won't be pretty to watch--as the disaster with the Teamsters,
>brought on by using outside consultants, has vividly demonstrated--but it's
>hard to see how anything less painful would convince enough union leaders
>to get off their asses.
>
>Anders Schneiderman

This sounds a lot like "the worse, the better" kind of argument, or maybe
Anders version of "tough love."

While there is more than a little truth in your observation about how unions
allocate their political resources, it is not entirely accurate to say
"Virtually none of it is spent on building up a grassroots machine."  I
can't speak about the entire state, but in the Bay Area, there is a serious
shift in the way political work is being carried out in the direction of
base-building capacity.  It leaves much to be desired, but is a far cry from
what Anders depicts as the state of things.

There is also no assurance that labor leaders would conclude as a
consequence of 226's passage that base-building is the way to go.  They
might just as easily conclude they need bigger media budgets.

"It won't be pretty to watch...."?  That sounds too much like a general
casually observing from the comfort of a Pentagon office that "war is hell,"
or a State Dept. diplomat clucking at a DC cocktail party about the
regrettable but unavoidable casualties that result from the commitment of
U.S. forces to Somalia or the "lesson" that Europeans can learn from what is
happening in Bosnia.

Framing it as you do, Anders, suggests that you are not likely to be one of
those who suffers the pain that workers will have to endure in order to get
union leaders "off their asses."

That might fly in an academic debate, but I don't think you'll be invited
anytime soon to offer counsel to labor's leaders -- or for that matter, to
any rank & file caucuses.

In solidarity,
Michael E.