Portland Rising Reading

April 10, 2013

The reading for the April 10 meeting is “Making the Whole City Your Bargaining Committee” by Barb Kucera,  Labor Notes, February 19, 2013.

As we all recognize, overcoming the challenges we face requires creative and careful thinking about organizing, including how best to make and strengthen connections as well as overcome the broader structural changes in our economy that work against our interests.  Therefore, Portland Rising is committed to making time for the necessary learning and reflecting.

In general, our educational effort will take place during the last 20-30 minutes our meeting.

Questions to help guide your reading

1. The article explains that SEIU Local 26’s effort goes “beyond traditional bargaining and rallies to put forward a farsighted vision for working people—and attack corporate power on multiple fronts.”  What are the limitations to “traditional bargaining”?  And what does it mean to “attack corporate power”?

2. The article highlights the organization Minnesotans for a Fair Economy (MFE), which was formed by SEIU in early 2011.  What groups comprise the organization?  What were/are their different challenges/demands?  How has the organization promoted the interests of its different member groups in the past?  How does SEIU Local 26’s participation in this wider mobilization strengthen its own current contract efforts?  How might this collaboration support the interests of the different groups in the long term as well?

3. The article notes that MFE member groups share “a concern about income inequality and corporate power in general.”  How did this shared concern develop?  Does such a concern emerge spontaneously within organizations or is it the result of internal education and/or how campaigns are organized?

4. The article says that this year SEIU Local 26 “is making its fight bigger than its own contract, joining with a host of organizations to tackle many kinds of inequality.”  Does this mean that the local is raising different demands as a result of its wider vision or that it has mobilized its members differently?  

5. The article says that one reason MFE has been successful is that it decided to “focus on key targets—notably Target Corp. and U.S. Bank, both headquartered in Minneapolis, and Wells Fargo, which has a big local presence.”  It adds that “This approach will be tested as MFE organizations launch their most ambitious actions to date. The ‘Unlock Minnesota’s Future’ campaign week will unite an array of groups and issues and show the connections among them.”  What criteria should one use to select key targets?  How is the Unlock Minnesota’s Future campaign putting pressure on these key targets?  

6. The article ends by noting that MFE was initially criticized for “its anti-corporate rhetoric.”  How should one respond to such criticism?

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Previous Readings

March 2013 - Nick Bedel, “Bus Stewards Win More Routes Through Alliance with Riders,” Labor Notes, January 15, 2013.