15 Apr 2009, Written by Erica Ellen Phillips in politics, society, 2 Comments

New-Fashioned Unions: A Profile of Arise Chicago

When the United Electrical union workers at Chicago’s Republic Windows and Doors occupied their factory in the cold, early days of December last year, they were not alone. Hundreds of activists and community members turned out in solidarity, standing out front with picket signs and providing food for the workers inside. Many of these supporters were organized by a local group called Arise Chicago (formerly Chicago Interfaith Committee on Worker Issues), an example of a labor organizing model that is growing in cities across the country.

Beyond the coordinated organizing of local religious leaders and their communities, Arise’s pro-labor efforts include an arm dedicated to providing legal support and training to low-wage workers, particularly immigrant workers. This initiative is one among well over 200 functional “Worker Centers” that serve under-represented laborers in the United States. Arise Chicago’s director, Adam Kader, explains, “we’re a community resource … a place for workers to get educated about rights to learn about strategies for improving their workplace.”

The Arise Worker Center, like other organizations of its kind, began as a multi-faith religious advocacy group in 1991. The original members – among them Monsignor Jack Egan, Rabbi Robert Marx, and United Methodist Bishop Jesse De Witt – organized their varied religious communities to support labor initiatives on the north side of Chicago. When they published a comprehensive Workers Rights Manual in 2001, the group received a wide response as individual workers began calling with questions about their rights in the workplace. In 2002 the group added a Worker Center initiative specifically to respond to worker concerns about their workplace rights. Kader describes the early years of the Worker Center as a “rapid response” model, where workers’ calls were responded to as they came in – something the organization has tried to structure differently in recent years. Today, the Arise Worker Center is a member organization that somewhat resembles an actual union. Constituents are encouraged to “commit to other members” by contributing monthly dues (in any amount), attending and teaching workshops, and leading advocacy campaigns. With 215 members – primarily immigrants from Latin America and Eastern Europe, working in several industries – Arise’s Worker Center members have been able to take advantage of the broader network of Worker Centers to share stories and strategies.

In a 2006 Economic Policy Institute study of Worker Centers, Janice Fine described these organizations as “suggestive of earlier U.S. civic institutions” such as “fraternal organizations, political parties, settlement houses, and urban churches…” These early groups were places where immigrants found support and modern unions saw their beginnings. However, the organized unions that formed as a result – which provided job stability and secure wages to families in the 50s and 60s (when 1 in 3 workers was a member of a union) – have seen a steady decline over the past 50 years. The globalization of labor forces in manufacturing, and the nationwide expansion of unprotected job sectors (service industries such as food and janitorial services), has led to a modern economy in which few professions are protected against labor market competition.

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But this imbalance of power between big business and organized labor appears to have reached its breaking point. Arise Chicago and other worker solidarity organizations stand today at the edge of what could be another historical turning point – a resurgence of organized labor. In light of the highly publicized occupation at Republic Windows and Doors, and upon the inauguration of a pro-labor president, Kader believes that labor organization has become more important now than it has been in generations. “Deregulation and privatization have really eroded worker protections and led to de-unionization” – a breach of what he refers to as the social contract. “The combination of those things have resulted in poorer and fewer jobs in the US … that’s why our standard of living is not as good as it should be.”

For the hopeful among us, it is difficult not to draw parallels to earlier labor movements and to envision a bright future for low-wage laborers in the U.S. With a new pro-labor president in office, who was an original co-sponsor of the Employee Free Choice Act, there are numerous reasons to believe things can only get better. The act would make it easier for workers to unionize based on a “card check” or secret ballot election, coordinated by union leaders; if more than half the workers vote in favor, the workplace would unionize. This is a significant change from the standard practice over the last 50-plus years of employer oversight in union elections, and heavy intimidation against unionization. The Employee Free Choice Act would be the first major pro-union legislation since the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) of 1935, which protected the right to unionize. (The NLRA has since been amended to outlaw “unfair labor practices” on the part of organizers, placing great limits on their jurisdiction.)

Unfortunately, the drive behind the Employee Free Choice Act, one of Senator Obama’s campaign platforms, is appearing more and more difficult to push through Congress. Business leaders, already faced with declining numbers in the poor economy, are fighting tooth and nail to keep the legislation from adding another difficult element to their restructuring processes. The business community’s attempts to counter the purpose of the bill argue that the elections would not be secret, that union leaders would coerce employee votes, and that the process denies a democratic right to free elections, despite the name of the bill. In a 2007 policy paper, the Heritage Foundation even argued that “few employees want to organize.”

Current economic troubles are not only a business-side argument against labor organizing, but are also a practical consideration for smaller pro-labor groups like Arise, whose operating budget has been shrinking by the day. Even as the need for these community efforts is growing, their sources of funding (churches, foundations, and so on) have been spread thin. When I met with Kader in a north side Chicago coffee shop in early March, he was just finishing a meeting with another staffer at Arise. He told me they no longer had money to pay her, and although she had done great work, they were going to have to cut her hours. Kader went on to tell me that as the economy turned south last summer, Arise’s Worker Center network members grew hesitant to push the envelope. Over the last few months, however, after Republic’s workers settled for $1.75 million, their constituents were impressed. In the weeks following the Republic settlement and Obama’s inauguration, Arise received more phone calls from disparaged workers than they’d seen in months. “Republic showed to vulnerable workers, low-wage workers, and immigrant workers, that you have to stand up,” Kader explained. “Workers are now saying ‘the economy’s so bad, I can’t afford not to fight’ … When people are desperate they’re willing to do more and to fight more.”

In response to the particular issues at Republic Windows and Doors, service workers around the country are gearing up to fight a large-scale problem dubbed “wage theft” – the pervasive practice of denying workers overtime and severance pay and benefits, to which they are entitled by law. The climate is hopeful and workers are inspired by their forefathers in the labor movement of the 1930s. Kari Lyderson, author of a forthcoming book about Republic Windows, writes, “in a shifting economic and political context, collective action can bring real results.” It seems the time has come for major change, as community organizations set the tone for the voice of labor in our generation.

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To get involved with Worker Center initiatives like Arise, start with www.arisechicago.org/

To learn more about Wage Theft, see http://www.wagetheft.org

Erica Ellen Phillips lives in Los Angeles where she is pursuing a Masters in Specialized Journalism (The Arts) at USC Annenberg School of Communication. She is editor and publisher of globalhuman, and writes for Venus Zine, Love, Chicago, and Is Greater Than.

View all articles by Erica Ellen Phillips.