UPDATE: Based on the comments below (presumably by IWW agents), it appears that the IWW does not plan on raiding the UFCW and is merely going compete within the jurisdiction.
Now, this is interesting. It appears that the United Food & Commercial Workers is about to see some competition in its core jurisdiction from the Industrial Workers of the World (aka, the Wobblies):
I.W.W. Food & Retail Workers Union Founding Convention
Posted Sat, 08/13/2011 – 8:21pm by IWW.org Editor
Branches: Portland IDC
Union News: Department 600 – Public Service
October 21, 22 & 23, 2011 : Portland, Oregon – Hosted by the Portland General Membership Branch of the I.W.W.
The I.W.W. Food and Retail Workers Union is an organization of workers at every link in the supply chain of food and retail products- from processing facilities to warehouses to restaurants, cafes, grocery stores, strip malls, big box stores, and other retail shops. We have come together to fight for fundamental change in our industries. In the short term, we seek to build power with our coworkers to win improved wages, guaranteed hours, healthcare, and other crucial improvements to our working conditions. In the long term, we aim to establish industrial democracy through worker self-management of production for human needs, rather than capitalist
The convention will lay the organization’s structural foundation, develop an organizing and outreach strategy based on our approach of solidarity unionism, and plan for the building of industrial unionism in the food industry. [Emphasis added.]
Read more @ Industrial Workers of the World.
If the IWW, which has seen a small resurgence in recent years, sets itself up as a rival to the United Food and Commercial Workers, it could spark an interesting 21st century union war that would be reminiscent of the labor wars in the early 2oth century.
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Woah there. Competition is one thing, but raiding is a whole other. The IWW has no intention of raiding any other union. The IWW has some differences of opinion with the AFL-CIO and its affiliated unions, but we’re not their enemy, and we’re certainly not interested in or associated with shameful and disingenuous actions like raiding or scabbing.
Not even sure why you’d bother writing this up. Your idiotic attempt at creating bad blood between these two unions is transparent for anyone familiar with them.
You apparently did not read the posting rules, did you?
Tolerance of rudeness, profanity, or sheer ass-hattery is limited.
You have been erased.
Updated.
Have a nice day.
Well, given that I’ve been rather lenient with your comments to this point and have had an otherwise already long day, I bid you adieu.
nice try
“UPDATE: Based on the comments below (presumably by IWW agents), it appears that the IWW does not plan on raiding the UFCW and is merely going compete within the jurisdiction.”
IWW agents? Oh please…
Regarding the update: the IWW works for its members, not the other way around. There are extremely few paid staffers, and no paid executive officers. When wobblies want something done, they organize amongst themselves to get it done themselves, including debunking your transparent attempts to agitate one union against another.
The IWW does not have “agents”. I am an IWW rank-and-file member and an active volunteer with my local. I’m not really sure how you’re defining agents here. If you’re thinking in terms of paid staff members, the IWW only has a couple, and they perform clerical tasks and such. Details can be found by searching the IWW GHQ 990 forms which are filed annually with the IRS if you have any doubts as to the voracity of this. The people who do the tremendous majority of the work to keep the IWW running – the delegates, the organizers, the folks who maintain the websites, the people organizing funds, etc – they’re all rank-and-file members who volunteer their time to these tasks.
Very simply, if you are speaking for, or representing, the IWW (regardless of pay), you would be an agent of the union. If you are merely a member of the union, then likely not.
OK, then all members are agents by your definition, as all members speak for and act as the union. One of the founding principles of the IWW is just that: “we are the union”, wherein “we” refers to the rank-and-file membership.
The IWW is run in a very substantively different way from AFL-CIO unions. They tend to have union officers and executives, staff members doing the organizing and other duties, etc. The IWW does not, but rather has a largely flat hierarchy and is extremely accessible. It’s my personal opinion that this better serves the rank-and-file members, and also leads to a more radical approach to labor organizing. Further, the IWW does not participate in electoral politics. A tremendous amount of the budget of the AFL-CIO and their affiliated unions goes to the Democrats and their political campaigns, whereas the IWW focuses exclusively on labor issues and labor organizing, rather than on electoral politics. IWW funds go to help career industrial workers, not career politicians.
Dun dun. Dun dun. Dun dun. Dun dun. Twidlew twiddleew
It feels so cool to be an agent. I wish there was some paperwork I could file right now.