Much of the information provided on the matter of the union contract came from one of the sponsors of the event, the United Steelworkers (USW). While advocating for an atypical collective bargaining agreement, where worker owners are distinguished from an often elected management of some kind, the main reason for sourcing these contracts with unions like USW came down to 2 main reasons. One was to speak plainly, healthcare. USW has a healthcare network attached to many of their current shops, funded through the union itself. The second, however, is something less capital-intensive, a cooperative council. The council model within USW is similar to the IWW idea of organizing across an industry. Workers from different employers but within the same industry meet through the union to compare contracts, industry standards, and collaborate in organizing around setting those standards. In the Co-op Council of various union cooperatives under the USW, acting as a Central Labor Council like the AFL-CIO. Because of these two factors, USW District 1 (Ohio) has a number of these cooperative shops in its union structure, something still relatively unique within the broader USW structure.
From our IWW-based perspective, a critical flaw to be found in this system of course runs back down to the maintenance of labor peace under the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The labor peace agreement between employers and business unions, particularly during the life of a CBA, typically includes no strike, no lockout out and management rights clauses. This agreement was established to achieve a more stable business environment where production and profit-making are not disrupted, agreeing to avoid direct action on the shop floor, strikes, or pickets in addressing grievances and enforcing agreements. Work now, grieve later has been the widely accepted principle in labor law, under the paradigm of labor peace. The NLRB, as many Wobblies know, was already fairly flimsy protection and is currently nearly defunct, especially considering the obvious limitations it creates on organizing, namely through Taft-Hartley. Not only that, but the limitations found in the lack of ambition towards more transformative policy around the economic reality of the US, which many business unions have, including USW.
Read the rest at Industrial Worker
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