Social Movement Unionism

Social Movement Unionism is a trend of theory and practice in contemporary trade unionism. Strongly associated with the organising model of trade unionism, it also overlaps with Community Unionism. Social Movement Unionism attempts to integrate workers, trade unions and the labour movement into broader coalitions for social and economic justice. Thus, in principle, unions and other organisations support each other in what are seen as mutually beneficial goals. The campus living wage work of unions, which have frequently worked with chapters of United Students Against Sweatshops, are an example of the principle in practice. Similarly, the 'Teamsters for Turtles' (as their t-shirts had it) at Seattle signalled a willingness of sections of the labour movement to engage with environmental concerns. Other prominent examples include the relationship between Reclaim the Streets and the Liverpool Dockers (UK) during their strike in the late '90s; and the relationship between the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and progressive US students during the Boot the Bell campaign.

Union initiatives

Union support for social justice causes can come from within the scope of their respective collective agreements. Unions are increasingly demanding that new collective agreements contain clauses that are intended to further social justice. The inclusion of social justice support in a negotiated contract, compels all parties to support these causes in a legally binding way. This may extend to funding the education of rank and file union members in various social justice issues (ie. fair trade policies, anti-poverty initiatives, anti-globalization campaigns and race, gender and human rights issues, etc.) and/or financial or technical support for non-union causes. Generally speaking, social movement unionism advocates greater levels of democracy and equality for all people, regardless of union membership.

Collective bargaining

During contract negotiations or collective bargaining, some unions are pushing for the inclusion of various social justice clauses to be added to the collective agreement. One example of this may be a demand that a percentage of future wages be transferred to a fund to be used to effect social justice issues nationally or internationally on behalf of the union membership. Another example is a recent trend of demanding a portion of hourly wages to be deferred to a P.E.L. (paid education leave) fund, to allow union members to leave the work place for a period of time, at no loss of pay, so they can attend social justice seminars and educational programs. These demands are forwarded as proposals to the employer during collective bargaining negotiations.

References

* Report of a 2001 Jobs With Justice Conference entitled [http://www.labornotes.org/archives/2001/1001/1001i.html Building Social Movement Unionism] , indicating the assumptions which lie behind the term and revealing some practical strategies.
* [http://www.justlabour.yorku.ca/Reiss.pdf Social Movement Unionism and Progressive Public Policy in New York City] , a paper by Jeremy Reiss.
* [http://www.apl.org.ph/APLPrimer/aplprimer_part4.pdf Chapter on Social Movement Unionism] in the booklet [http://www.apl.org.ph/APLPrimer/PrimerIndex.htm Fighting Back with Social Movement Unionism: A Handbook for APL Activists] , produced by the Alliance of Progressive Labour in the Philippines.
* [http://www1.minn.net/~nup/workshop.htm This brief article] gives some idea of how the term in question is so connected and conflated with the organising model, and the realisation of the need for (another) 'new unionism'] .
* [http://www.labornotes.org Labor Notes magazine]