Review of “Solidarity Divided”

Solidarity Divided:

The Crisis in Organized Labor and a New Path Toward Social Justice

by Bill Fletcher, Jr. and Fernando Gapasin,

University of California Press, June 2008

This book, co-authored by UP Board member Bill Fletcher, is probably the most important book on the current labor movement to come out in recent years. Fletcher and Gapasin basically set out to write the balance sheet on the state of the labor movement since the contested 1995 election that brought John Sweeney and his New Voice slate to power a the head of the AFL-CIO. The two authors have detailed experience inside the AFL-CIO structure, but are not beholden to it. Fletcher was AFL-CIO Education Director for some years and later Assistant to President Sweeney, then at the National Labor College. Gapasin, for years a teacher of Labor Education and Chicano Studies at UCLA, was the main researcher for the attempt to revitalize the local labor councils called Union Cities. Both, though, also have years in the trenches in the unions, both as elected leaders, staffers and members. These experiences since 1995 are the heart of the book. The book is not always an easy read, since it tries hard to link theory with practice and not just tell one story after another. It is well worth the effort.

The volume is more than a very revealing memoir by two extremely well-informed and thoughtful activists. It is also an analysis the how the labor movement has recently failed to live up to its potential, and to the hopes of many who had high expectations for the New Voice leadership coming out of the first contested election for AFL-CIO president since its founding merger in 1955. They tell the story in the context of broader labor and working class history, and a riveting and important story it is, especially for all of us who are part of the working class majority in the U.S., including professional workers, and not just union members.

Fundamentally, they argue that the continued decline of the union movement is the result of the turn away from what they call Social Movement Unionism. They marshal historical and contemporary examples to suggest that at many crucial times, opportunities have been lost to recreate a movement. One example of a missed opportunity is the debate that preceded the 2005 split in the AFL-CIO, when five unions left to form Change To Win as an alternative federation. They argue that the key issues — union internationalism; union democracy; and historic as well as present discrimination against people of color, women, and immigrants — were largely off the table.

They give some examples from today and in the recent past of what could be the building blocks of a strategy for change and for a labor movement that is militant, democratic and concerned with all workers, not just its own current dues payers. Most important, perhaps, they argue for a movement that is more than the trade unions, that is clearer on goals and on who our opponents are. They strongly suggest that a union movement based on the desire to recover the “good old days” of labor management cooperation and the post-WWII social contract is hopeless. They call for a movement for the 21^st century, drawing from lessons of past victories and defeats, but ready to fearlessly try new forms and strategies. In their vision, the idea of United Professionals could fit right in, if we are to see ourselves not as merely a guild of the professionally skilled and educated but rather as a part of the broader labor movement. This book could help us do that. If there is only one serious book on the labor movement you read this year, make it this one.

Book review by Joe T. Berry, Visiting Labor Education Specialist, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Labor Education Program. Author, “Access to Unemployment Benefits for Contingent Faculty”, Chicago COCAL, 2008,  www.chicagococal.org “Reclaiming the Ivory Tower: Organizing adjuncts to change higher education”, 2005, Monthly Review Press, www.reclaimingtheivorytower.org.

Tags: AFL-CIO, Bill Fletcher, Fernando Gapasin, organized labor, Solidarity Divided, trade unions

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