Strategic Organizing Center

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Strategic Organizing Center
Strategic Organizing Center Logo.png
FoundedSeptember 27, 2005 (2005-09-27)
Headquarters1900 L Street, NW Suite 900 Washington, D.C.
Location
  • United States, Canada
Members
3,463,611 (2016)[1]
Key people
James P. Hoffa, Chair
Websitethesoc.org

The Strategic Organizing Center (SOC), formerly known as the Change to Win Federation (CtW) is a coalition of North American labor unions originally formed in 2005 as an alternative to the AFL-CIO. The coalition is associated with strong advocacy of the organizing model. The coalition currently consists of The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT); Service Employees International Union (SEIU); and United Farm Workers (UFW). Communications Workers of America (CWA) is affiliated with both the SOC and AFL-CIO.[2]

The SOC also includes SOC Investment Group, a shareholder engagement arm of the SOC that challenges management of large, publicly traded companies targeted by the SOC's campaigns.

Membership (US records; ×1000)[3]
Finances (US records; ×$1000)[3]
     Assets      Liabilities      Receipts      Disbursements

Changes in federation membership[]

In the summer of 2009, the United Brotherhood of Carpenters disaffiliated from Change to Win.[4]

After a bitter and divisive internal battle, a third of the members of UNITE HERE left that union and joined SEIU. The remaining 265,000 members of UNITE HERE reaffiliated with the AFL-CIO on September 16, 2009.[5][6]

The Laborers' International Union of North America said it would also leave Change to Win and rejoin the AFL-CIO on August 13, 2010.[7] LIUNA officials did not immediately explain their reasons, but AFL-CIO officials said the reaffiliation would be formalized in October 2010.[7]

On August 8, 2013, the United Food and Commercial Workers announced that they would be leaving Change to Win and re-affiliating with the AFL-CIO.[8]

Possible reunification with the AFL-CIO[]

On January 9, 2009, national news media reported that the five of the seven CtW unions had met with seven of the largest unions in the AFL-CIO in talks which explored the possibility of the five CtW unions rejoining the larger labor federation.[9] Impetus for the talks came as the Obama administration signalled to both labor federations that it preferred to deal with a united rather than fragmented labor movement.[10] Also, several Change to Win unions also concluded that they were not getting any significant advantage from being in a separate labor federation, and that a fragmented labor union was doing more harm than good.[10][11] David Bonior, a former U.S. Congressman who once led the AFL-CIO's American Rights at Work division and who was a member of Barack Obama's presidential transition team, facilitated the meeting, and said talks were scheduled to last several weeks.[9][10][12] The five CtW unions present included the Laborers, SEIU, the Teamsters, UFCW, and UNITE HERE.[9] AFL-CIO unions present included AFSCME, the AFT, the Electrical Workers, the UAW, and the United Steelworkers.[12] Also in attendance was Dennis Van Roekel, president of the National Education Association, which is independent and belongs to neither group.[10]

A number of major issues were discussed in the opening round of talks. One major point of discussion revolved around who would lead any reunited federation.[9] AFL-CIO President John Sweeney was widely expected to retire at the trade union center's August 2009 convention, and Laborer's president Terence O'Sullivan and AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka had been discussed as his successors.[9][10][13] The nature of the AFL-CIO presidency was part of the leadership talks, with some unions suggesting that the presidency rotate among member unions while others hoped for a strong and vocal "executive director" position.[10] The two sides agreed that any reunited labor federation should have a stronger voice in national politics as well as have a greater say in helping member unions engage in more new member organizing.[10] The two sides also discussed whether to change the name of the AFL-CIO, or whether to adopt an entirely new organizational structure.[10] Among other issues discussed were: How the AFL-CIO/new organization would encourage new member organizing and at what level (national or local), what a reunited labor movement's political priorities should be, what sort of relationship a reunited labor movement will have with the Democratic and Republican parties, the level of member union dues, and globalization issues.[10][13] Although one news outlet reported that the 12 unions hoped to settle on a reunification agreement by April 15, 2009,[10] no issues were resolved in the first round of talks.[13]

The talks drew some limited criticism from members of the labor movement for not addressing issues of union democracy.[14]

Current Campaigns[]

Since 2005, The SOC has partnered with its affiliates on a number of labor organizing and advocacy campaigns across different industries.

Amazon Campaign

The SOC has worked with a number of different labor unions, think tanks and other advocacy organizations in recent years to address labor and competition issues at Amazon—the second-largest employer in the US. The SOC has worked to shine a light on health and safety issues at Amazon warehouses,[15] antitrust concerns pertaining to Amazon acquisitions, such as the pending merger with MGM studios,[16] and how the company uses its market power to impose unfair conditions on sellers using Amazon's e-commerce platform.[17]

Partner organizations[]

(formerly CtW Investment Group) is an affiliate that is co-located within the Strategic Organizing Center.[18][19] SOC Investment Group advances SOC organizing campaigns by filing shareholder resolutions and engaging shareholders of publicly traded companies to vote against management.[20][21] Examples of companies targeted include Amazon, McDonald's, Electronic Arts, and CVS Health.[22][23][24][25] While SOC Investment Group is cited in media reports as an investment adviser that works with union-backed pensions,[26][27] the group's website says it does not provide investment advice or act as a fiduciary for any pension funds.[28]

See also[]

Notes[]

  1. ^ US Department of Labor, Office of Labor-Management Standards. File number 000-385. Report submitted March 31, 2017.
  2. ^ "About". Strategic Organizing Center. Retrieved 2021-11-03.
  3. ^ a b US Department of Labor, Office of Labor-Management Standards. File number 000-385. (Search)
  4. ^ MacGillis, Alec. "For Unions, A Time of Opportunity and Worry." The Washington Post. September 15, 2009.
  5. ^ Greenhouse, Steven. "Union Rejoining A.F.L.-C.I.O." New York Times. September 17, 2009.
  6. ^ Stutz, Howard. "Culinary Parent UNITE HERE Rejoins AFL-CIO, Ending Four-Year Separation." Las Vegas Review-Journal. September 18, 2009.
  7. ^ a b "Construction Workers' Union to Rejoin A.F.L.-C.I.O." Associated Press. August 14, 2010.
  8. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-12-03. Retrieved 2013-08-27.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. ^ a b c d e Maher, Kris. "AFL-CIO, Breakaway Unions Discuss Reuniting." Wall Street Journal. January 9, 2009.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Greenhouse, Steven. "Labor Calls for Unity After Years of Division." New York Times. January 7, 2009.
  11. ^ Meyerson, Harold. "Labor's Real Fight." Los Angeles Times. February 1, 2009.
  12. ^ a b Knowles, Francine. "AFL-CIO, Change to Win May Reunite." Archived 2009-01-18 at the Wayback Machine Chicago Sun-Times. January 8, 2009.
  13. ^ a b c Ambinder, Marc. "Behind The Labor Merger Talks." Archived 2009-01-12 at the Wayback Machine Atlantic Monthly. January 9, 2009.
  14. ^ Leedham, Tom. "Reunification Without Democracy--What’s the Point?" Labor Notes. February 2009.
  15. ^ Greene, Jay. "Amazon warehouse workers suffer serious injuries at higher rates than other firms" Washington Post. June 2021.
  16. ^ Weprin, Alex. "Amazon’s MGM Takeover: Labor Coalition Lobbies FTC to Halt Deal" The Hollywood Reporter. August 2021.
  17. ^ Weise, Karen. "Unions Push F.T.C. to Study if Amazon Warps the Economy" New York Times. February 2020.
  18. ^ "About CtW Investment Group". SOC Investment Group. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
  19. ^ Evans, Melanie (29 March 2017). "CtW Investment Calls for Governance Changes at Universal Health Services". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
  20. ^ "Teamsters and CtW Investment Group Demand Amazon Come Clean on Workplace Safety Record". Teamsters.org. International Brotherhood of Teamsters. 8 April 2020. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  21. ^ Gershon, Eric (22 May 2009). "CVS Stores Criticized In Report By Labor Group 'Change To Win'". The Hartford Courant. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
  22. ^ Palmer, Annie (25 May 2020). "Amazon investors want the company to address worker safety at its shareholder meeting". CNBC. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
  23. ^ Baertlein, Lisa (13 February 2015). "McDonald's needs to shake up board, union fund adviser says". Reuters. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
  24. ^ Golum, Rob (7 August 2020). "Electronic Arts Investors Reject Executive Pay in Rare Rebuke". Bloomberg. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
  25. ^ Skariachan, Dhanya (22 April 2010). "CtW requests SEC inquiry into CVS exec transactions". Reuters. Reuters. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
  26. ^ Temple-West, Patrick; Edgecliffe-Johnson, Andrew (28 December 2020). "Unions blast $47m bonus for GE boss after share price target lowered". Financial Times. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
  27. ^ Franklin, Joshua; Kerber, Ross (21 March 2019). "Union fund adviser CtW questions Lyft's path to profitability ahead of IPO". Reuters. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
  28. ^ "About: Mission Statement". SOC Investment Group. Retrieved 20 January 2022.

External links[]

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