Strategic Organizing Center

The Strategic Organizing Center (SOC), formerly known as the Change to Win Organizing Center (CtW) is a coalition of 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
Strategic Organizing Center
FoundedSeptember 27, 2005 (2005-09-27)
Headquarters1900 L Street, NW Suite 900 Washington, D.C., United States
Location
Members
3,463,611 (2016)[1]
Key people
James P. Hoffa, Chair
Websitethesoc.org

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]

Partner organizations

The Emerald Cities Collaborative is a partner organization with the Change to Win Federation.

CtW Investment Group is an affiliate that is co-located with the Change to Win Federation.[15][16] CtW Investment Group advances CtW organizing campaigns by filing shareholder resolutions and engaging shareholders of publicly traded companies to vote against management.[17][18] Examples of companies targeted include Amazon, McDonald's, Electronic Arts, and CVS Health.[19][20][21][22] While CtW Investment Group is cited in media reports as an investment adviser that works with union-backed pensions,[23][24] the group's website says it does not provide investment advice or act as a fiduciary for any pension funds.[25]

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. 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. "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.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. Maher, Kris. "AFL-CIO, Breakaway Unions Discuss Reuniting." Wall Street Journal. January 9, 2009.
  10. 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. Knowles, Francine. "AFL-CIO, Change to Win May Reunite." Archived 2009-01-18 at the Wayback Machine Chicago Sun-Times. January 8, 2009.
  13. 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. "About CtW Investment Group". CtW Investment Group. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
  16. Evans, Melanie (29 March 2017). "CtW Investment Calls for Governance Changes at Universal Health Services". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
  17. "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.
  18. Gershon, Eric (22 May 2009). "CVS Stores Criticized In Report By Labor Group 'Change To Win'". The Hartford Courant. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
  19. Palmer, Annie (25 May 2020). "Amazon investors want the company to address worker safety at its shareholder meeting". CNBC. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
  20. Baertlein, Lisa (13 February 2015). "McDonald's needs to shake up board, union fund adviser says". Reuters. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
  21. Golum, Rob (7 August 2020). "Electronic Arts Investors Reject Executive Pay in Rare Rebuke". Bloomberg. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
  22. Skariachan, Dhanya (22 April 2010). "CtW requests SEC inquiry into CVS exec transactions". Reuters. Reuters. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
  23. 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.
  24. 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.
  25. "About: Mission Statement". CtW Investment Group. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
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