Labor’s makeover must start with the heart
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as a voice of the labor movement.
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WESTERN LABOR
PRESS ASSOCIATION
MARCH 17, 2006
If you look hard enough, you’ll find it — your union’s
moral purposes. They’re seldom talked about, but are often
articulated in detail in the preamble or mission statement in
the union constitution. Most were written 70 to 100 years
ago. Some of the language could stand to be updated, but
are any of the purposes irrelevant? Here are some excerpts
from the constitutions of four unions:
Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU)
• To secure and defend our rights.
• Establish order and harmony.
• Promote the general cause of humanity and brotherly
love.
• Secure the blessings of friendship, equality and truth.
American Federation of State, County & Municipal Em-
ployees (AFSCME)
• To work with our brothers and sisters in other lands
towards the improvement of the conditions of life and work
in all countries, towards the diminution of international ten-
sions and a reduction in the use of armed force to resolve
disputes and towards genuine fraternity of all workers.
• One of the fundamental tenets of democratic govern-
ment is the consent of the governed. Unions are an exten-
decent employers don’t compete at a
disadvantage for taxpayer-funded con-
struction contracts, Local 701 joined a
multi-issue community coalition called
the Metropolitan Alliance for Common
Good (MACG).
“Being in MACG forces you to talk
about unions with people who don’t un-
sion of that idea. Union members are both workers and cit-
izens. Collective bargaining is the expression of citizenship
in employment.
• Amidst unparalleled abundance, there should be no
want. Surrounded by agricultural surpluses ... there should
be no hunger. With advanced science and medical research,
sickness should not go untreated. A country that voyages
into outer space can provide adequate education, protec-
tion and family preservation for all its children.
International Association of Machinists (IAM)
• [To labor through united action to promote] the right of
those who toil to enjoy to the full extent the wealth cre-
ated by their labor.
• To perpetuate our Association on the basis of solidar-
ity and justice.
• To endeavor to bring about a higher standard of living
among the toiling masses.
International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE)
• To promote the health, welfare and safety of members
and families.
• The betterment of general economic and social condi-
tions in the world.
• To protect and strengthen our democratic institutions.
derstand them,” Harris said. “Often-
times I’m faced with trying to educate
an entire community about what unions
are all about. You have to put it in moral
terms.”
Lakoff agrees, and says it’s vital that
organized labor reconnect with the
community, becoming part of a broader
social justice movement. Union leaders
have asked his advice, Lakoff told the
NW Labor Press, but haven’t always
liked his answer: They can’t go it alone.
“Labor has to be seen as part of the
community,” Lakoff said. “Unless
unions have the support of their com-
munities, they’re not going to make it.”
Carpenters, Electricians, Laborers, Glaziers, Sheetmetal Workers, Floorcoverers, Bricklayers, Cement Masons, Roofers, Asbestos Workers, Family, Millwrights, Painters, Elevators, Plasterers
IBEW & United Workers Federal Credit Union
Please join the Credit Union
“Annual Meeting”
Celebration 2006
Tuesday, March 21st at 7:00pm
@
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al g ttende
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Sp all a
to
IBEW Local 48
15937 NE Airport Way
Portland, Oregon 97230
Gran
d p
at th rize draw
e end
ing
meeti of the
ng
Prizes given throughout the event
Appetizers will be served
Please bring your family and fellow union members
For more information call (503) 253-8193 * (800) 356-6507
Electricians, Carpenters, Laborers, Glaziers, Sheetmetal Workers, Floorcoverers, Bricklayers, Cement Masons, Roofer, Asbestos Workers, Family, Millwrights, Painters, Elevators, Plasterers
What is the purpose of a union? Is it
a 3 percent raise? Holding on to fringe
benefits?
Bob Bussel, director of the Labor
Education and Research Center
(LERC) of University of Oregon, is
convinced that unions have a higher
purpose, an underlying moral mission
that’s too seldom talked about.
Bussel and fellow labor educator
Greg Schneider have begun teaching
workshops to labor leaders about how
unions communicate — or fail to com-
municate — what they’re really about.
The two draw on the ideas of George
Lakoff, a professor of cognitive science
and linguistics at the University of Cal-
ifornia, Berkeley.
Lakoff, a leading figure in the field
of linguistics, has recently become
known as a political thinker, authoring
books like Don’t Think of an Elephant:
Know Your Values and Frame the De-
bate, and Moral Politics: What Conser-
vatives Know That Liberals Don’t. In
the books, Lakoff proposes that every-
one has within them conflicting sets of
values. Persuaders succeed when their
message connects to a set of values peo-
ple already have — and reinforces those
values against other, competing values.
America’s conservatives, Lakoff
says, are used to speaking in moral
terms. But progressives are uncomfort-
able and out of practice with it, and tend
to talk facts or try to sell plans and pro-
posals.
“The right has done a good job pre-
senting a set of values that appeal to
people,” Schneider said.
But union values also reverberate in
the community, Schneider says; they’re
just not being communicated effec-
tively, or at all.
“People share our values, but they
don’t know what our values are,”
Schneider said. “They perceive us as the
bosses portray us — irrelevant to today,
organizations that are going to force
you to do things you don’t want to do
... or protect bad workers.”
At their workshops, Bussel and
Schneider ask participants to identify
what “union values” are. They tend to
come up with the same handful of
themes: dignity, fairness, unity, security,
citizenship, equality, democracy and
pride.
Then participants take a look at
union communications — ads, picket
signs, newsletters. And the values are
nowhere to be found. Instead, Bussel
says, unionists tend to talk in outdated
and jargon-heavy language, long on le-
gal terms and short on moral appeal.
“We’re setting ourselves up for fail-
ure by some of the ways we talk about
ourselves,” said Cherry Harris, a com-
munity organizer with Operating Engi-
neers Local 701.
Bussel and Schneider were invited to
present their workshop at Local 701’s
Gladstone union hall, because union
leaders saw they were having a hard
time explaining issues that matter to
building trades unions.
As part of a campaign to make sure
Electricians, Carpenters, Laborers, Glaziers, Sheetmetal Workers, Floorcoverers, Bricklayers, Cement Masons, Roofer, Asbestos Workers, Family, Millwrights, Painters, Elevators, Plasterers
Drawing on the ideas of a
Berkeley professor, LERC
Director Bob Bussel
wants labor to shift the
terms of the debate by
getting re-grounded in
union values.
Glaziers, Carpenters, Laborers, Electricians, Sheetmetal Workers, Floorcoverers, Bricklayers, Cement Masons, Roofers, Asbestos Workers, Family, Millwrights, Painters, Elevators, Plasterers
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
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