Chicago Tribune, July 27, 2005, Wednesday

Copyright 2005 Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
Copyright 2005 Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune

July 27, 2005, Wednesday

HEADLINE: Many union members say they get little in return for dues

BODY:

Building engineer Don Lasota knows little about his union's history-making split from the AFL-CIO, a move that could weaken or revitalize a labor movement struggling to halt a decades-long decline in membership.
But the 25-year union member thinks a shake-up can't help but be good if it makes unions leaner, stronger and more in touch with people like himself.
"There's--I don't how many--vice presidents, and what do they do?" Lasota, 58, said Tuesday while taking a cigarette break in front of the Streeterville high-rise where he works. "Some say we're the pawns, and we can get pushed around every which way. I think that if they cut out that dead weight and go and split like this, it might be better."
All around downtown Chicago, workers had little idea what their unions' leaders were doing at Navy Pier, where hundreds of delegates from around the country were setting the AFL-CIO's agenda while two big unions were making separate plans after breaking away.
They are the rank-and-file in one of the country's labor strongholds, a city with 450,000 union members.
Some are stalwarts who speak with pride about their unions, but others are disaffected members who say they see little benefit for the dues they pay.
Many of them, echoing the concerns of leaders of the warring factions, say unions no longer have the clout to protect workers' jobs and deliver hope for a better future.
"I'm not so much pro-union as I used to be because they make a lot of promises that don't pan out," said James May, 47, a shipping and receiving clerk on the loading docks at Northwestern University's downtown campus.
May said he joined a union seven years because his job was in danger of being contracted out, but he's still not convinced his job is secure. "It's protecting us now," he said, "but who is to say what's going to happen?"
He knows his local number--No. 681--but couldn't name its affiliation, offering "sand and gravel" as the name of his union.
That's common, labor experts said, because the typical member, unlike the activists who turned out for the AFL-CIO rallies last Sunday, is far removed from a union's international workings and its dealings with the 56-member federation.
"For them, the union is the local shop steward," said Richard Hurd, a Cornell University labor expert. "Many have no interest in becoming activist.
"They see the union almost as an insurance agent--if they have a problem, they call them up," he said.
Independent polls suggest that workers' sentiment about their unions has varied little over the last 30 to 40 years, Hurd said. If given a chance to vote, 85 percent would keep their unions.
Nonetheless, many workers interviewed Tuesday said they had little to show for their union dues.
"I just know they take our money and give it to the Democratic Party," Barbara Woodson-Silas, a 17-year union member, said, laughing. "To me, the union used to be strong back in the day. But today, it's not."
A member of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, she said she joined because she was given a card to fill out during orientation when she started working at the Cook County Clerk's office.
Lanette Lee, 37, who works at the Cook County Treasurer's office, belongs to the Service Employees International Union--one of the two maverick unions that quit the AFL-CIO this week.
"I don't even know what that is," she said of her union's disaffiliation. "All I know is they take money out of my check."
Lasota, the building engineer, agreed that "unions are not as strong as they used to be.
"I mean, you can go just around this neighborhood and there's been strike-busters," he said, standing outside a high-rise at Chestnut and Dewitt Streets. "One right next door here, they were striking there for three months. It didn't do any good.
"And you know, years ago unions were strong," he said. "Today they're nothing."
Not all workers are so pessimistic.
Byron Dumas, 34, a doorman at a Streeterville high-rise, is a member of SEIU's Local 1.
"I've been almost completely in the dark" about events at the AFL-CIO meeting, he said. "I've seen my union mentioned, but I don't know what's going on.
"But," he added, pulling his wallet out and showing off his union card, "I'm probably one of the few people who carries their union card with them. The unions definitely are necessary."
Steering a crate of vegetables from his delivery truck to a restaurant near State and Illinois Streets, Gilbert Matos, 45, said he looks forward to joining the Teamsters when his waiting period is over. He started working as a delivery driver a month ago after working both union and non-union jobs.
"I always believe union is always best," he said. "They help you. They give you better benefits."
By Barbara Rose and Erika Slife