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SEIU-AFSCME Merger?

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AFSCME-SEIU

Now this is certainly interesting.

The leaders of two of the nation’s biggest, most powerful labor unions — the Service Employees International Union and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees — are completing a plan that calls for unusually close cooperation in political campaigning, organizing and bargaining in states and cities across the United States.

The effort begins a process that could lead to a merger of the two organizations, an outcome that would create the nation’s largest labor union, with some 3.6 million members.

“While we recognize the differences in culture and structure between our respective organizations and the divisions that have hampered us in the past, the times demand that we build on our common purpose,” states a resolution the unions are expected to approve. It cites challenges like political attacks on organized labor, growing income inequality and deteriorating workplace conditions.

The document adds that the two unions will consider ways to step up the collaboration, including a formal merger.

The resolution — which was adopted by the Service Employees International Union board on Thursday and was expected to be considered by the American Federation board in June — also would need to be ratified at conventions the unions have scheduled for this year.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees has 1.6 million members, most of whom are government workers. The Service Employees International Union has approximately two million members and is split nearly evenly between workers in the private and public sectors. About 80 percent of the unions’ membership is in roughly a dozen states, including New York, California and Illinois.

A merger would have some upsides and lead to a whole lot of questions. First, the two unions would stop arguing over who gets to organize who, since they both work in the public sector. This would be a positive. They would combine resources to be a huge power within the Democratic Party. It could come closer to uniting the House of Labor than anything in a long time. Of course, one supposes that would also include SEIU abandoning the now pointless Change to Win and rejoining the AFL-CIO. I think that would make a lot of sense. The Andy Stern era is long over and since Change to Win was his baby, it wouldn’t surprise me to see current SEIU leadership being willing to end it. So that’s one question. Another is how the two cultures would work together. Most union mergers consist of a big union taking over a declining union. When the union I wrote about in Empire of Timber, the International Woodworkers of America, was no longer viable in the face of widespread plant closings, it merged with the International Association of Machinists and became part of that union’s culture. But that’s not the case here. And since SEIU is a different kind of union than most, the merging of the union cultures would be a real challenge.

I don’t think this merger is that close to happening. This would be like a large corporate merger, except that the unions would have to care about what happened to the redundant workers. There’s a lot to work out. But if and when it does, it will make for one powerful organization with a whole lot of resources behind it. These developments are definitely worth watching.

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