Serving the People: Defending and changing the public sector in the face of neo-liberalism,

including

A New Approach to Building Worker-Community Alliances: Sustainable Collaboration vs. Relationships of Convenience

The neo-liberal policies of the past generation, referred to as “structural adjustment” programs in other countries, have been attacking public sector programs and workers in this country as well. Labor and other social forces need to build a movement to defend and improve the public sector, against privatization, deregulation, and funding cuts that must follow the “privatization through de-funding” attack known as tax cuts. To build such a movement, we must change the face of union/community relationships from those of convenience and achieving immediate goals, to supporting and collaborating around broad and focused issues that would create long-term, sustainable relationships that bring about real change. If we do not figure this out, then even this barely growing component of the organized labor movement will also cease to grow, and U. S. communities will sink deeper into the “dog eat dog” world of global capitalism.

The purpose of the workshop is to:
1) envision a strategy that is based in building strong/deep alliances between public sector workers and the people in the community, the public, who are supposed to be served by the public programs the workers deliver – USDA workers, farmers and rural people; the Veterans Administration workers and veterans; EEOC workers and civil rights organizations; sanitation workers and their communities; transit workers and bus riders; health care workers and people needing health care access; teachers and parents/students, etc. - and to MOTIVATE workers, advocates, women’s groups, associations, religious organizations, to engage in this type of long-term political work,

2) explore cross-collaboration opportunities between various components of the public sector, various unions, and various constituencies - federal, state, county, city, etc, to build a MOVEMENT to defend and improve the public sector,

3) explore at what point(s), strategic or tactical conjunctures, should public sector unions advance such a change strategy, and how should we begin to build a movement to roll back tax cuts.

The centerpiece of the workshop will be a panel of grassroots activists/leaders who have spent some real time – from several months to many years – building reciprocal relationships between workers and the people who are supposed to be served by their work, and who have actually won some victories together:

- an AFGE Local Union representing USDA workers and the family farmer/rural coalition activists they ally with on US Department of Agriculture issues,
- an AFGE Council representing EEOC workers and the civil rights movement representatives they ally with to defend and improve the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission,
- AFGE council/locals representing workers in the Department of Veterans Affairs and the veterans organization(s) they ally with,
- UE Local 150, Raleigh, NC, sanitation workers and their community allies,
- Public sector members of Atlanta Jobs with Justice, hopefully including ATU and Bus riders in Atlanta, as well as AFSCME and their partners in Atlanta.

SEIU Local 500, and their Director of Community Affairs, as well as others, will provide both theory, and lessons from trying out the theories. These presentations may come prior to the panel portion, setting the stage, or during the panel. After the panel, the workshop will break down into small groups to further address the issues raised in the statement above of the purpose of the workshop. These small groups may be organized based on the level of government involved: federal programs & workers; state programs & workers; municipal programs & workers; special boards (transit, education, etc.) programs and workers. The workshop will close with report backs from the small groups and an effort to identify next steps on which the participants may be able to collaborate.

The workshop will be conducted in English, with verbal translation to Spanish available as needed (not simultaneous). Handouts will be in English.

Power point may be used, so there will be a need for a projection screen/area, as well as for a flip-chart or board for writing notes. Let us know if we have to bring all such items.