By Cliff Willmeng.
Trump’s shock and awe executive order that denies all federal employees the right to belong to a union is wreaking havoc at the Veteran’s Administration. The National Nurses Union (NNU) represents nurses at the VA and one nurse in Chicago commented that coupled with Musk’s cuts, care for our veterans is being gutted. As always, the love of military personnel and the flag waving is strongest when they are being sent to wars that aren’t in our interests. When they come back---if they come back---mentally or physically damaged, suddenly federal money is hard to come by.
This nurse told me that another major crisis is the VA collects the dues for the unions involved. But if the union doesn’t exist per Trump’s order, why would the VA continue to take money out of people’s pay check? “Dues checkoff”, the process where the boss or company collects employee’s union dues through payroll, is vital to the union functioning, paying bills and so on. Now NNU is scrambling to find a way to keep the dues money coming in.
Dues checkoff has been great for the union leadership who don’t have to work and don’t have to deal with members on a day to day basis while collecting their dues. The less interaction with the members the less risky it is for these leaders at a time when anger is white hot in the ranks of the trade union movement. Union leadership simply ducks the pressure.
But wait, there’s more. The employer, the VA, also holds some of the union members’ contact information, e mails and such, so now NNU is also scrambling to get the members to sign up to alternative ways to pay their dues before union funding could disappear into thin air.
The NNU had a three-day conference this last weekend in Chicago relating to the VA specifically. I don’t know for sure if they are even aware of how they want to respond.
Naturally the unions have filed lawsuits in response to Trump’s orders. But Trump has some 50 lawsuits against him, have they not learned that he does not care about lawsuits? I would not oppose fling lawsuits but our unions were not built by filing lawsuits and they won’t be saved by them either. And with Trump openly defying the courts and with the Supreme Court nearly his proxy, to tell our nurses that this will somehow fix the issue is dishonest at best. It gives false hope and would take a considerable amount of energy and resources that could stall critical action needed right now.
We are in a new period; an historical shift has taken place, and it has been a while coming. We are only three months in to this Administration and it is totally uncharted territory unless we go back to the 1920’s and 30’s when the 1929 depression and severity of the crisis stunned the leadership of the AFL at the time.
Sara Nelson, the leader of the American Flights Attendance Association has spoken more than once on the need for a national general strike to counter the most vicious attacks the US working class and organized labor has faced since World War Two. This is a positive step and hopefully sister Nelson will wage a campaign within the AFL-CIO executive board for action.
We are not powerless. The AFL-CIO leadership should call for a national meeting to discuss and build for a 24-hour national general strike against the present administration’s anti-union policies. This leadership employs an army of staffers whose primary role has been to ensure the organizations’ concessionary policies get carried out. This resource should be transitioned to reach out to union bodies, Labor Councils, and locals and build for a national one-day work stoppage.
If the AFL-CIO fails to do that which is most likely, then Sister Sara Nelson should take the lead. Hundreds of thousands of shop stewards and local activists would help. Just the announcement of such a development would send shock waves through Congress and wall Street. Imagine what a belligerent like Trump would say in response to even a mere announcement? He would thrash at the nation’s unions and essential workers so stupidly that he may end up driving a national conversation and become our best organizer.
There could be endless incremental steps and actions along the way. Community meetings, preparations, local actions against politicians of both parties, marches, acts of civil disobedience, and occupations could happen. Benefit concerts could bring tens of thousands of people together. This counter offensive of essential workers could do all of this and go far beyond the defensive measures needed to protect our unions at this moment. In the process we could write our own demands that neither political party can accomplish. National health care, the end of student and medical debt, the establishment of social housing, a new infrastructure plan for high speed trains new hospitals, and a reduction in the work week would all be on the table.
All of this I possible. As an emergency room nurse, one of tens of millions of essential workers who risked our lives and pulled this country through the Covid pandemic, I have no question about the central role all of us play. The entire system couldn’t stop reminding us of the fact that without us its functions disappear into thin air.
So why are these union leaders talking about nothing more than lawsuits and giving more money to the Democratic Party? If they are not up to the historic task we face, they have to be replaced with new leaders who can build a response worthy of these times.
About the author
Cliff Willmeng is a registered nurse in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He has been a member of several unions and is currently in the Minnesota Nurses Association. He has participated in numerous national and local campaigns ranging from labor struggles in Chicago to environmental efforts in Colorado. He participated in the “Battle of Seattle” protests against the World Trade Organization in 1999 and was co-founder of Labor For Standing Rock during the Native fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline. He can be contacted at: Willmeng70@gmail.com
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