The Ithaca Journal, July 18, 2008, Friday

The Ithaca Journal

July 18, 2008, Friday

The Ithaca Journal

Speaker at ILR school urges unions to network, diversify
By Laura Brandt • Special to The Journal • July 18, 2008

ITHACA — When Rev. Nelson Johnson, a North Carolina community activist, finished his speech at Cornell's seventh annual Union Leadership Institute conference, a crowd of more than 70 union leaders from across New York state rose to a standing ovation.

“I know you spoke from the heart,” said Maxine Roach, a union leader representing the American Federation of Musicians, as she addressed Johnson in a question and answer session following the talk. “And I really appreciate that.”

At the crux of his talk with conference attendees, Johnson addressed the need for diverse unions to unite to strengthen their causes. As he spoke about the growing economic crisis, Johnson urged his audience to “work systematically ... to build a network of unions.”

Unions not only need to bond with one another, Johnson said, they need to be “much more integrated with the local community.”

“The union is about people at the workplace,” he continued.

“That's not just a union issue. That's a community issue.”

From this central topic of uniting unions and workers, Johnson branched out to examine the problems of racial and generational divides in society and the work force.

Robert Camacho, representing Brooklyn's Citywide Housing Authority, said that in his efforts to keep a neighborhood park open for children and teenagers, he has had to deal with disputes “between Latinos and African-Americans.”

“I had to close the park this week because of the fighting,” Camacho said, and asked Johnson how to cope with gang rivalry.

The answer, Johnson replied, isn't embodied in a single solution.

“Efforts ... have to be tailored to your community,” Johnson said.

In North Carolina, where he currently works, Johnson said he has been gathering with members of local gangs, first in small meetings and then in larger groups, in an attempt to ease relations and minimize violence.

But what's working in North Carolina, Johnson repeatedly cautioned, may not be the right approach to Camacho's issues in Brooklyn.

No matter what tactic is chosen, Johnson said, “you have to build intergenerational discussion” so that the problems of today will not become the problems of the next generation. Union leaders, he emphasized, must bridge generational, economic, gender and religious gaps. In facilitating this communication, union leaders will not only be working to better the union, Johnson said, they will be “building a powerful movement commensurate to the moment.”

Fred Kotler, director of the institute, said that Johnson's goals align with the institute's mission of developing a “renewed labor movement (that) needs to be part of a broad fight for social and economic justice.”

“We're just bringing together people from various organizations so these leaders can see that the problems they have in common are greater than what's different between them,” Kotler said.