Labor Lessons from UFCW Local 7

December 31, 2009.

Three days ago I received five (possibly six) phone calls from Ernest Duran III and the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 general number.

I kid you not.

I can show you my phone bill.

For those of you who don’t know, Ernest Duran III (commonly referred to as “E3”) is the son of Ernest Duran Jr., the outgoing president of UFCW Local 7 (CO/WY).  This union represents mostly supermarket and meatpacking workers.  Until recently, E3 was the organizing director for the local.

I’ll keep the story as brief as possible because I prefer to focus on the lessons we can learn as union members, staff, leadership, etc.

Once he got me on the phone, E3 said three people have told him I’m affiliated with this site:  voteernieout.com [Vote Ernie Out dot com]

Let me state with zero hesitation: I’m not affiliated with that site.  I don’t know who runs it, who started it, if it’s ever going back up, anything, really…I just know two things:

1.  The stuff posted on there was often pretty funny.

2.  People went on the site to vent about the Durans (President, E3, and daughter Crisanta) and the rest of the local’s leadership.

Now.  Get this…

E3 called me to say he was “willing to work with me” because of my affiliation with the site and the site’s [supposed] libelous content.  Of course any knucklehead knows that when someone approaches you saying they’re “willing to work with you” off the bat, they’ve already concluded that you’re guilty.

My exact response each and every single time he tried to associate me with that site: “everything I’ve written online about the UFCW I’ve attached my name to.”

I take pride in my writing.  I put my name on it.

If you’re really, really curious, everything I’ve ever publicly written and said about UFCW Local 7 can be found:

-On this blog.

-In the “comments” section of this story.

-In this story.

-In an upcoming issue of the Denver Post.

-My name is also on an article published online by Labor Notes Magazine.  For a variety of reasons, I am not satisfied with how my favorite labor magazine edited and presented this story.  It happens.

E3 informed me that he was looking for information on the people who wrote and maintained that website cuz he’s pursuing a lawsuit against Local 7’s recently elected president: Kim Cordova.   She takes office tomorrow.

Background: in September of this year Kim Cordova and her slate won every single seat they ran for, unseating incumbent president Ernest Duran Jr. (again: E3’s father) and the rest of Local 7’s incumbent leadership.

Kim told me of her intention to run for union president in early June, 2009.  At this point she seemed 90 percent certain she was running.  This was my third (and final) conversation with Kim Cordova.  She had just been terminated from the local.

Considering the timing of her decision to run, Kim and her slate had only three months to challenge President Duran, an incumbent leader of approximately 20 years.  Again, in the end: she and her slate won every single seat they ran for.

Here’s what I don’t understand…

Exactly how does an incumbent of approximately TWENTY YEARS lose to a challenger that:

1.  Has THREE MONTHS to organize and challenge them.

2.  Runs on a campaign full of [alleged] lies.  you’d think that after 20 years the membership would be so knowledgeable and ecstatic about the Duran leadership that they’d be able to sort through Kim’s vicious campaign of [alleged] lies.

3.  Beats the incumbents in EVERY.  SINGLE.  SEAT.  THEY.  RAN.  FOR?!?!?!

President Duran and the other incumbents lost because enough of the voting membership wanted them out.

Point.  Blank.

Let.  It.  Go.

A defeat of that magnitude is not the product of three months of lies from an underdog challenger.  A defeat of this magnitude can be understood by cutting through the rhetoric in voteernieout.com and examining the legitimate frustrations of Local 7 members and staff.

Here’s the reasons I supported Kim Cordova.

1.  She came out of the rank and file.

2.  She called out the inflated salaries of UFCW leaders.

3.  She advocated for increasing the strike fund.

4.  She advocated for increased staff training.

5.  She was very knowledgeable and helpful to me when I turned to her as my staff union union rep.  (yeah, staff union union rep).

Here’s the reasons her campaign excited me:

1.  I wanted to see a woman triumph into union leadership.  Unions need more women in leadership positions.

2.  I’d like to see exactly what she and her leadership team do with regards to (now their) inflated salaries.

3.  I’d like to see exactly what she and her leadership team do with regards to building the strike fund.

There is NO reason.  None.  NONEWHATSOEVER.  NOT ONE reason Local 7 members should be having a difficult time during negotiations.

As the research on this blog has shown: the corporation is turning a PROFIT.

Also, as the latest LM-2 forms show, the union has 21,421 members in Colorado and Wyoming.  TWENTY ONE THOUSAND MEMBERS!!!

hold that thought.  hold that thought for just one second…

In 2005, the Change to Win labor Federation was born when certain unions (including the UFCW) split from the AFL-CIO, the big “union of unions”.  Change to Win justified its departure from the AFL-CIO on the grounds that it would pursue an organizing strategy nicknamed “density is destiny.”  The essence of that organizing strategy: the higher the percentage of workers unionized in a targeted geographical area and industry, the more negotiating power the union has.

…back to that thought.  WITH TWENTY ONE THOUSAND MEMBERS IN COLORADO AND WYOMING THIS UNION HAS ENOUGH “DENSITY” TO CRIPPLE THREE SUPERMARKET CHAINS IN TWO STATES AND MAKE THINGS VERY UNCOMFORTABLE FOR THE BOSSES, THE SHAREHOLDERS, THE CEO’S, AND COLORADO’S SELL-OUT GOVERNOR.

21,000 members in two states, in one industry could shut this mother down.  In many senses, this could have been (and frankly, it could still be) a microcosm of the Teamsters victory against UPS in 1997.

This ain’t the Rotary Club, it’s not PETA, it’s not a law firm, it’s not an insurance company, this is a UNION.  Those 21,421 members can go (and should have already gone) into their churches, social groups, local businesses, parent teacher associations, and other unions to build broader community support for supermarket workers during negotiations.  This type of grassroots actions gets the community to side with the union on the picket line.

The current state of the union?  The union’s biggest problems?

1.  UFCW Local 7 is bureaucratic (at the local and international levels).

2.  UFCW Local 7 is nepotistic.

3.  UFCW Local 7 staff and leadership is overpaid.

4.  Numbers 1, 2, and 3 from this list came out in this blistering news report.

5.  The outgoing leadership thought “legal” was synonymous with “ethical” and therefore did shady stuff like this.

Also:

6.   UFCW Local 7 leadership and staff focuses almost exclusively on servicing the membership through grievance processing and negotiations.  The problem with that?  It’s not building the union’s overall strength.  It’s not even getting the union to function like a union.  It’s functioning as a social service agency.  In a social service agency, a social worker advocates on the behalf of someone who is incapable of advocating for themselves.  In a union, a union organizer organizes, educates, and agitates workers that are capable of organizing, shutting down production, and advocating for themselves.  BIG.  BIG.  MASSIVE.  Difference.

Finally:

7.  UFCW leadership treats the membership as a commodity whose terms of exploitation they negotiate with the bosses every time a contract expires.  Again: “they”, the overpaid union bureaucrats, are “advocating for” 21,421 union members.  Doesn’t build union strength.

Now… “WHAT BUILDS UNION POWER?”  What gets us raises?  What scares the employer?  What gives us leverage?  What gets us health care?  What keeps our pensions?

Let’s start with two ingredients: solidarity and democracy.  These will be recurring themes on this blog.

The idea of solidarity is summarized in the old union saying: “an injury to one is an injury to all.”  Solidarity is about feeling another workers’ struggle as if it were your own.

CUZ IT IS.

So, for example: if a gay worker is being harassed by management and you don’t do anything cuz you’re not gay, don’t expect anyone to come to bat for you the day your boss gets away with harassing you cuz you’re Black, Latino, an immigrant, a woman, etc.  Solidarity means: workers are stronger when we band together.

Local 7’s solidarity could and should extend to supermarket workers in other UFCW locals, non-union workers (so they become union), supermarket workers in other states, AND IN OTHER COUNTRIES.  Yes, solidarity is international in scope.  Supermarket and meatpacking workers in other countries share the same struggle against the same (or similar) bosses.

democracy. for starters, yes.  your union has a constitution, bylaws, elections, and other “stuff” that tells us how meetings are to be run, what’s voted on, how votes work, stuff like that.  that process is PART of democracy within a union.

Equally important however, union democracy also includes (and can be measured by):

-Freedom of speech

-Tolerance for dissent

-A broad spectrum of viewpoints

-Transparency

-The ability to participate in meetings

-The ability to run for elected position

-Access to elected leadership, and

-Leadership accountability

Basically all the stuff we should have in our larger society.  It’s a long list and there’s no perfect recipe but as Al E. Smith said: “all the ills of democracy can be cured by more democracy.”  (Different context, sweet quote).

And now………………………………………we’ve come full circle.

My beef isn’t with the Durans, Kanias, or Rodriquez’s personally.  It’s with the bureaucratic structures of unions and the authoritarian powers of both the union bureaucrats and the bosses.  The history of our unions and labor movement has shown time and again that solidarity and democracy are two of our mightiest weapons against both.

E3: In the spirit of democracy.  In the spirit of free speech, transparency, tolerance for dissent, and leadership accountability, I offer the comment section of this blog entry to you and exclusively to you.  I don’t have the time, desire, or money to be a part of your legal adventure in any way, shape, or form.  …and honestly, a lawsuit for defamation during a union election sounds about realistic as suing for a bloody nose after a hockey fight.  My advice: move on.  Address the merits of the arguments I’ve laid out, clear your family’s name, explain how Local 7 members benefited from your tenure as organizing director, and either continue preparing for your upcoming battle with President Cordova or start putting your resume out there.

I honestly doubt I’ll post a rebuttal if you use the space.  I’m literally too busy for this.  I have two other projects on my hands: http://www.behindthelens.net/ and http://www.debajodelagua.com/ and I’m starting another blog next week: http://blog.behindthelens.net/

So yeah, my hands are full.  It’s no joke.  If you check in on those sites you’ll see new pics and blog entries.

Upcoming blog entries/themes: Academics in Unions, and Movements for Union Democracy

Please subscribe to this blog for updates.

In Solidarity,

-Ric Urrutia.