One on One with...
Region 9A Director Phil Wheeler
Region 9A faces its share of union busting. What’s it going to take to turn the tide?
We’re taking a dual approach. On the ground we are engaging more of our members in the fight, training them to assist in organizing new members. On a national scale we are educating elected officials on the devastation union busters cause to workers and workplaces. We also need to keep the Employee Free Choice Act at the top of our agenda. This legislation would protect workers when they exercise their legal right to join unions.
Region 9A has had some great organizing success. How do you do it?
We developed a culture of organizing. In 1995 we put organizing on the agenda of every regional meeting and conference. The entire regional staff and local union leadership engaged in a careful analysis of the region, reviewing our past and looking at strategic areas for growth. We trained hundreds of volunteer organizers in one-on-one skills. Since then we have more than doubled our membership.
You said, “Blue voters and red voters need secure retirements.” How does this apply in the fight against privatizing Social Security?
This is a line-in-the-sand fight. The issue unites the middle class and working poor, red and blue. There’s still a universal value that says people shouldn’t have to work their entire lives and face poverty in their old age. Bush is trying to fool people into thinking personal retirement accounts are the ticket to financial independence. He can’t pull it off. It would cost trillions of dollars to convert to personal accounts, and would result in major benefits cuts and a huge increase in our national debt. And for what — a chance to gamble in the stock market?
How do you see this country achieving a more affordable health care system that covers everyone?
It requires a regime change in Washington. As long as corporations are allowed to profit off people getting sick, nothing’s going to change. However, we can take a state-by-state approach. Local politicians are more easily put on the spot.
New England states have progressive coalitions involving labor and community. What role do they play?
In the late 1980s, Region 9A spurred an initiative to build coalitions of progressive organizations and unions in the Northeast. We came together around a broad political agenda, not a single issue. We developed a unified electoral strategy that resulted in more than 200 of our local candidates getting elected. We have passed legislation. We have taken on powerful industries. In New York our work laid the basis for the Working Families Party. We have earned the respect of our coalition partners. Our challenge now is to turn that into support for union organizing. A stronger labor movement equals more justice for society.
