These are dark days for U.S. workers. The dominant corporate culture is, and has been for many years, waging a relentless, one-sided class war against us. This rising tide of economic and social injustice meets little organized resistance. Labor unions in the U.S. are weak, fresh out of new ideas, and too often trapped in ideological contradictions. Some other working class organizations are trying new approaches, but they remain small, mostly local in scope, and face contradictions of their own. The crisis demands bold new initiatives that focus on the transformation of existing worker institutions, building an all-inclusive movement and powerful social mobilization for economic and cultural justice.

The Center for Labor Renewal is "an ever expanding circle of activists and ideas" dedicated to combining different threads of working class organizing and activism to promote the transformation and renewal of labor as a progressive social movement in this country and internationally. We invite you to review and endorse the Call for the Center For Labor Renewal. The CLR will:

• Link individuals and organizations to a new space for progressive analysis and strategic action. Establish and support non-traditional popular education models and options for workers.
• Be a Clearinghouse for progressive concepts, 'renewal' based analysis and strategies, and base-building initiatives.
• Support and connect key worker struggles locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally.

Call For A Center For Labor Renewal:
Issued by the undersigned Endorsers

The Crisis in U.S Labor is Not Being Addressed

The profound changes in the US economy over last thirty years have created a crisis for the working class. They demand an equally transformative response. Unfortunately, the most recognized and established organizations of the working class – unions – have largely failed to suggest winning solutions for workers or to provide leadership and a means for a class wide discussion of the crisis facing workers. The highly publicized 'debate' among the top leadership of the U. S. union movement, which has split the AFL-CIO into competing Federations, is a case in point. This debate has not addressed class contradictions within the power structure of society, nor examined the current business union culture in this country. It has done nothing to provide an in-depth analysis of that crisis, name the system at the heart of the crisis, or propose solutions and strategies critical and transformative enough to confront the radical nature of the relentless attacks.

Emblematic of how deep the crisis is for the working class, the "debate" at the top never engaged the mass of workers at the base, some of whom are union members most of whom are not. There are over 150 workers centers scattered throughout the US that also deal with workers and their issues. Many of these organizations, though smaller in membership and scope, have provided some much needed new thinking on winning working class power, and in a number of cases has delivered. They were not even acknowledged, much less included by the forces at the top of the union movement. Likewise the "debate" did not reach out to grassroots members of unions. On both counts vital sources of information, winning tactics and strategies, and ideas for renewal have been passed over.

The end result is that the union movement, while it had a brief moment in the media spotlight, has provided no inspiring challenge to capital's power at home or abroad, remains wedded to a form of unionism that accepts the existing vision and framework of collaboration with a ruling class that no longer intends to collaborate. Missing is a serious discussion of the deep and persistent problems of racism, sexism, homophobia, and xenophobia—or the willingness to degrade our environment for short-term gain. Social justice issues like health care and racist attacks on immigrants that speak to the entire working class, not only the 10% organized into unions, remain largely unaddressed at the national/federation level.

Rather than a democratic movement-wide debate to forge a new consciousness of resistance and struggle, including the views of workers at the grassroots, we have been exposed to limited debate over organizational growth. The two factions/federations simply differ in approach. There are, however some local unions and Central Labor Councils that have championed social justice unionism, taken on the capital assault, and made cultural and organizational changes to become inclusive and welcoming to all parts of the working class. They will be important components of any labor movement revitalization. Still, for many workers, both inside and outside of unions, the current union movement is irrelevant to their daily lives. The choice between the federations is like a choice between ExxonMobil or Shell, Burger King or McDonald's, Democrats or Republicans.

The victims of today's one-sided class warfare need a vibrant, democratic labor movement that understands and acts on the historic working class principle that "an injury to one is an injury to all." The debate that is needed must ground itself on a vision about a better life for the working class and the steps to get there. If we are to organize 100% of the working class, and give sustenance to those fighters on the front lines of capital's assault, the debate must focus on a total transformation of unions and unionism, the relationship between all forms of working class organizations, building local power, and an internationalism free of US centric/western notions of cultural, economic, and political superiority.

We cannot accept the claim that the debate on revitalizing the labor movement is over. We also want to affirm that the task of defining a new direction for workers is the right of all workers. This debate needs to be driven from the grassroots up, not from the top-down. It is not the exclusive property of the union movement and certainly not its top leadership. It will take the imagination and efforts of millions who are currently not involved, including the 90% of workers who are not part of the formal union movement (like the millions of immigrant workers who have recently poured into the streets saying ¡ya basta! to racist/nativist immigration "reform.").

We believe there is a need for an organized, alternative voice and the creation of a new paradigm for the revitalization of the U. S. labor movement. We need an organizing center where different threads of working class organizing can think, plan and act. We need to think out and promote what 21st Century unionism should look like – how that is radically different from business-as-usual unionism and how it must be part of a larger progressive social movement in this country. A newly recomposed (and recomposing) working class needs new ideas, institutions and activities, and a new generation of leaders. Producing that voice, we believe will require the creation of a new center—an ever expanding circle of activists and ideas to create what we are calling a Center for Labor Renewal. Join us in creating such a place.

This is not an ideological group, as such. It would be non-sectarian and organized around a common search for economic, social, racial, and environmental justice and the need to free workers from ceaseless exploitation.

There would be a broad political unity around:

• The centrality of class and class struggle:

  this is a class society; class struggle does not need to be invented, it is built into capitalist society; the working class must become self-aware.

• There is an enemy:

  Capitalism is hazardous to the health of the working class and other oppressed groups. Capitalists seek to demobilize, isolate and disempower workers. Therefore workers must recognize that these are the opponents of their interests. Any peace is temporary.

• A genuine labor movement does not exist if it is not rooted in an understanding of the intersectionality of oppressions and a perspective of inclusionism:

  The on-going struggle to unite workers means understanding how race, gender, sexuality, and class operate as interdependent systems of oppression. As Black lesbian theorist Audre Lorde states, "There is no such thing as a single issue struggle because we do not live single issue lives." To build principled unity, the simultaneous fight against all oppressions must be fundamental to building the labor movement we envision.

• Struggle pays:

  …If there is no struggle, there is no progress... When there is an injustice, labor must come out fighting and be seen as a force in society that is prepared to fight. The decline of power in U.S. Labor today is the result of strategies of accommodation, and leaders who have little to say that's different from Democratic politicians and offer little or no support to struggles for justice. Worker organizing and political education are increased through struggle. "No struggle, no progress" is a concept our labor movement needs to once again embrace by encouraging internal debate on a whole range of issues. Without it the transformation we seek will remain out of reach.

• Internationalism:

  labor has no borders. It is not only about joining with workers in the same industry or sector of the economy, but also supporting workers that are fighting global capitalism, the intrusions of the U.S. and other bullying powers, and their own domestic oppressors. Labor should not let arguments about international competitiveness and patriotism be used in order to whipsaw us against our allies in other countries.

• The members must control the labor movement:

  there is no room for condescending saviors. The members of unions and other working class organizations must control their organizations, pick their leaders, and decide on their respective directions. A genuine labor movement has members at the heart of emancipating themselves. All educational and mobilization activities must insist and operate on that principle and help provide the tools for its success.

• Genuine worker education provides the thread to the entire tapestry:

  Education is more than sharing new information and vibrant dialogue. It is about critical reflection and analysis, the difficult struggle to collectively develop new knowledge and strategies for the way forward, and the long-term process of developing leaders from the grassroots. It is not talking AT workers, but encouraging members and leaders of worker and community organizations to speak WITH one another about concerns, strategies, and vision. Worker education must address capitalism, its historical roots based on conquest and slavery; empire; the divisions among workers; how capitalism restricts working class consciousness; and the fight for political & economic power as its major components. Worker education is not primarily concerned with technique, but rather concerned with creating a framework for analysis and action. Class power and unity has always been it is most important by-product.

• Independent Political Action:

  The working class needs its own political voice. Reliance on the Democrats or the Republicans is destructive to the class interests of workers and the labor movement and robs our movement of progressive ideas and the ability to speak them. The organizational form of independent political action will need to be established through a process of education and struggle over time.

• A New World is Possible:

  We, like so many others around the world, envision a world where all people have access to free medical care, to quality education, decent housing, and jobs with livable wages and adequate social protections. A world with meaningful public work and a vibrant public sector, with alternatives to capitalism openly advocated. One that preserves and protects the environment. And a world where all human warfare's destructive swords can be re-forged into plowshares that combat hunger, disease, and global inequality.

• Be a center for ideas:

  It could function as a virtual think-tank for the labor movement, providing analysis, new strategies and concepts, and promoting articles and other publications. Encouraging its supporters to write columns and op-eds on issues facing the working class (domestically and globally). Provide impetus for base level activities which connect workers and allied communities. Identify and publicize ongoing struggles and assist in linking support networks (domestically and globally). Education around many of these areas of activity may also be undertaken through a CLR companion education vehicle, the Solidarity Education Center.

• Sponsor gatherings:

  Sponsor, and co-sponsor conferences and discussions on particular issues facing the working class. Had the center been in existence now, it would have been sponsoring local, regional and national discussions on the current debate in the union movement. Establish study groups to evaluate the changing nature of work and the redundancies and new options in worker organization related to those changes. It will also support cross-border, worker-to-worker efforts.

• Promote education programs:

  Review the history and effectiveness of specific past working class education efforts and support a wide range of educational activities to nurture innovation. Support the re-introduction of regional Solidarity Schools and develop regionally-based leadership to replicate them around the country. Bring forward younger and newer worker-activists and encourage their development within a left framework for addressing the challenges facing workers. Create opportunities for workers from other countries to participate in these programs.

• Facilitate strategic support training in local and regional Labor Councils & local unions:

  Popular culture denies workers access to creditable information and evidence of the economic and political abuse they endure. A new "common-sense" economics and class-based view of how exploitation functions, and what can be done about it where workers live and work needs to be made available. Stimulate the growth of multi-sector fightback organizations like Jobs with Justice, and challenge them to promote a more radical framework for community problem solving. Help create more base-level entities like city-wide shop steward councils and area worker assemblies.

• Establish an Internet and media presence:

  Set up a multi-use website. Publish educational materials on the Web. Reprint useful articles. Utilize a full range of media presentations. Offer and solicit commentary to challenge the prevailing wisdom and provide interactive discussion and debate forums. Adapt training and strategic planning workshops to internet facilitation. Current labor leaders have barely tapped the potential for this vehicle.