To the editors,
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Tom Gradel and Helena Worthen are both people I have had friendly relations with for some time. Part of the job Tom has done for the needle-trades union UNITE has been doing public relations and organizing alliances with students, churches, and the community against “free trade.” Helena has worked not only in educating union members, but has been intimately involved in organizing around issues concerning many abused workers in our community. They both recognize the need to “educate” and involve union members and the community around important social issues. My knowledge is that Tom’s call for democracy in making decisions in the name of the union was acted upon by the NWU steering committee quickly after the war resolution was taken. The product of this recognition was the questionnaire Mr. Miner writes about.
The social justice brand of organization involves “internal” organizing in shops. The NWU clearly has no physical shop. This makes its job of keeping up with the membership more difficult than possible in the offices of the phone company. One does not have to join the union to be a writer either, which makes the need for solidarity that much greater. It also means that the union needs allies who can pressure various publishers to abide by the pay standards and other conditions that writers need in order to have their labor appreciated as “value.” Thus “the union” needs to be in the community in order to get the word out. But it also means that “the union” has to demonstrate to the community that it is a good partner in taking stands that are beneficial to the community. This goes beyond the individual members’ understanding of their health insurance. Since allocation of government resources is in question, it might involve opposing a war that may go badly in so many financial and social ways. The American Academy of Arts and Sciences has estimated this war’s final cost might be upwards of a trillion dollars. It will also mean the further decline of the United States in the eyes of the people of the world and the negative effects that that will bring. This is certainly not a trivial matter for this or any other union! And union members have got to be brought into a discussion which deals with this sort of information and judgment. As part of a social justice institution, union leaders have an obligation to do this.
W. Diversey
