{"id":7718,"date":"2017-09-01T12:34:20","date_gmt":"2017-09-01T18:34:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lavozlit.com\/?p=7718"},"modified":"2017-09-01T12:34:20","modified_gmt":"2017-09-01T18:34:20","slug":"critical-homage-seiu-uswws-leader-mike-garcia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/2017\/09\/01\/critical-homage-seiu-uswws-leader-mike-garcia\/","title":{"rendered":"A Critical Homage to SEIU-USWW\u2019s Leader Mike Garc\u00eda"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-7719\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lavozlit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Mike-Garcia.jpg?resize=723%2C542\" alt=\"\" width=\"723\" height=\"542\" \/><br \/>\nBy La Voz San Jose<\/em><br \/>\nIn this text, we present a critical reflection of union organizer Mike Garc\u00eda\u2019s political work with SEIU-USWW.\u00a0 Garc\u00eda recently passed away on March 26, 2017.\u00a0 With a view on how Mike Garc\u00eda\u2019s work both strengthened and enhanced workers\u2019 struggles and mobilizations, we undertake a review of his 26-year career as the union\u2019s president.\u00a0 Rather than focus on scattered details of his life, we focus on his contributions to the labor movement. Thus, this critical assessment includes a reflection on how his life as a union leader has served to advance the interests of the working class.<br \/>\nThe following principles help us to shed light\u00a0 on Mike Garc\u00eda\u2019s work with the union.\u00a0 The foundational principles of all revolutionary or working class fighters are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Encouraging working class mobilizations to win our demands.<\/li>\n<li>Practicing union democracy\u2014 that is to say letting the workers make their own decisions.<\/li>\n<li>Workers\u2019 organizations should be independent from the government and employers.<\/li>\n<li>Encouraging and practicing solidarity among the working class.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>SEIU International, Garc\u00eda, and working class mobilizations<\/h2>\n<p>At the national level, SEIU is known as one of the largest workers\u2019 unions, which brings together almost 2 million people, as well as the fastest growing one. Unlike most unions in the country which seem to be stagnant -only 11% of U.S. public labor is unionized and within the private sector the percentage is only 6%- SEIU has undergone a very dynamic rising.<br \/>\nDuring the last four decades, the US economy has experienced severe transformations that have to do with the decrease of unionized labor. The passivity and conservative stances of union leaders have also hindered working class organizing. During the 1980s, seeking low-cost labor and raw materials as well as tax benefits, US companies\u00a0 -transformed into multinational corporations- moved their manufacturing plants to third world countries such as China, Mexico, and India. This process led to a weakening of union organizations, mainly composed of white workers.\u00a0 The unionization rate was at 30% in those years.\u00a0 During this time, there was also a parallel immigration shift to the United States allowing for cheap labor to feed the emergent service economy.<br \/>\nMeanwhile, due to the dismantling of the industrial working class sector, union organizations, and labor rights, a new working class emerged with much more precarious living conditions. This new working class, which was very diverse, but lacked a tradition of organized struggle, was mostly concentrated in the expanded public sector institutions. It was within this context that a new process of union organization came to life led by SEIU and other unions such as Unite HERE.<br \/>\nComparing the growth of SEIUin the 1980s and the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) in the 1930s, helps us understand the historical context that informed the development of both of these organizations. The rise of SEIU was very different from the CIO\u2019s development during the 1930s. The CIO emerged almost as an insurrection of the industrial working class against the effects of the 1930s economic depression, and it was also deeply influenced by the victory of the 1917 Russian Revolution. Over the years, workers\u2019 struggles were impacted by the US attempt to become\u00a0 the largest political, economic, and military power in the world.\u00a0 SEIU came into being when both US imperialism was widespread around the planet and during the most profound crisis of leadership of workers\u2019 social movements due to stalinism and the fall of the Soviet Union.\u00a0 SEIU\u2019s emergence shows the rising discontent over the increasing precariousness of the working class and its attempts to organize and fight back.\u00a0 The leadership that drove a large part of SEIU\u2019s growth, since the 1980s and beyond, has been bureaucratic with the objective of adjusting to the new conditions of the workers\u2019 movement to win leadership and to put into place the new model of unionism based on a conciliatory relationship with employers.<br \/>\nSEIU\u2019s innovative campaigns are based on a combination of mobilization tactics and conciliatory practices with employers, which were especially beneficial for big corporations. SEIU\u2019s union bureaucracy focused on the union growing and that is why they accepted wage improvements and limited benefits in exchange for expanding the union social base. Even though union enrollment rose, the working class\u2019s foundational achievements of the 1940s were disappearing.<\/p>\n<h2>Garc\u00eda\u2019s Union Legacy in SEIU<\/h2>\n<p>Mike Garc\u00eda\u2019s early years as an union organizer were very progressive and\u00a0 under his direction janitorial workers moved forward in their unity and organizing processes. It was during the 1980s that Garc\u00eda\u2019s involvement with union activities started. At this time,large corporations (tech companies) which owned large commercial buildings refused to to take responsibility for cleaning their buildings and hired private companies. By outsourcing those services, corporations got rid of their obligations to the unions. Janitorial companies hired low-cost labor \u2014undocumented latino migrants\u2014 who did not have any benefits.\u00a0 Rapidly, those workers, who suffered all kinds of injustices and exploitation, got involved in struggles and mobilizations.\u00a0 It was within this context that Mike Garc\u00eda began to organize janitors in San Jose, California and Denver, Colorado.\u00a0 In 1996, Garc\u00eda brought together janitors\u2019 organizations from northern and southern California; thus, prompting the creation of SEIU Local 1877.\u00a0 A pivotal historical referent of janitors\u2019 struggles was the 2000 janitors\u2019 strike in Los Angeles, which was organized by Garc\u00eda himself. This strike was key for janitors to win improvements in their wages and working conditions.<br \/>\nOver the following years up until his retirement in 2015, however, Mike Garc\u00eda became the most powerful obstacle for workers within the union. We can even argue that the achievements janitors had won by 2000 started to vanish and their working conditions increasingly got worse.<br \/>\nMike Garc\u00eda became the most noticeable expression of bureaucratic US unionism. Despite all the advances janitors achieved with his early work, over the years he began to teach deceptiveness, a common trait of union bureaucrats. All the counter-bureaucratic attempts to redirect workers\u2019 struggles, and thus revitalize working class mobilizations, have faced repression by SEIU-USWW\u2019s direction. However, neither Mike Garc\u00eda nor his successors have killed workers\u2019 revolutionary spirit which inspires workers to fight for a better future:\u00a0 a future with a real union where workers make their own decisions and are the ones who lead the US labor movement.<br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>The following are a few examples of Mike Garc\u00eda\u2019s actions which hindered janitors\u2019 struggles:<\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\nDuring 2004 and 2005, SEIU Local 1877 suffered a deep financial crisis. Expenditures were larger than revenues even though union members were paying high membership dues. Before this crisis, the union owned several buildings in northern and southern California and they had a healthy budget.\u00a0 However, suddenly, union leaders stated the organization was going through a budget crisis. Buildings were sold and there was an attempt to increase membership dues, which was broadly rejected by janitors. Meanwhile, the union president and leaders\u2019 wages greatly increased.\u00a0 Later, it came to be known that the union president earned nearly $150,000 annually whereas the average janitors\u2019 wages were barely $25,000.\u00a0 It is important to highlight that all the measures taken to cope with the financial crisis were decided by union leaders, Mike being the most notorious one.\u00a0 Workers did not have any opportunity to express their opinions and they were not consulted on these actions.<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\nAnother example is the 2008 strike at Northern California buildings. A former contract established a one dollar increase of wages during five years as compensation for better insurance. However, in 2008, workers were reluctant to accept these precarious conditions and started to mobilize. During a general assembly that brought together 1,000 janitors to the general office of SEIU Local 1877 in San Jose, janitors made the decision to do a general strike which went on for 12 days. However, both Mike Garc\u00eda and the employers wanted to prevent the strike from happening and tried to conduct negotiations which did not include janitors\u2019 opinions. Turning his back on the janitors, Mike Garc\u00eda signed a \u201cLetter of Understanding\u201d which only increased wages for workers who were not participating in the strike. Most of the workers knew that a strong and consistent strike may lead to better benefits, which is why janitors, especially those working in Cisco, kept going with the mobilization. A few days passed and Mike Garc\u00eda announced that employers agreed to a 2.00 dollar increase for the next four years. Several assemblies were held in San Jose and Oakland. Workers voted for a continuation of the strike. However, Garc\u00eda organized new assemblies with the aim of undermining that decision.\u00a0 Through these efforts, Mike Garc\u00eda put the brakes on the janitors\u2019 struggle.<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\nA last example has to do with Mike Garc\u00eda\u2019s involvement in the union\u2019s internal elections in October of 2008.\u00a0 Many janitors who were furious about Garc\u00eda ending the 2008 strike formed a strong independent opposition caucus in the union elections to challenge Garc\u00eda\u2019s leadership. However, taking advantage of the union\u2019s resources, Garc\u00eda prevented these sectors from participating during the elections, thus eroding democratic participation within the union. Moreover, Mike Garc\u00eda set in motion a campaign to destroy the opposition, in alliance with the employers. After the elections, the employers then went on to fire, one by one, the best strike leaders.<br \/>\nThere are more examples, but we consider the above mentioned ones enough to exemplify how Mike Garc\u00eda acted as an obstacle for workers\u2019 political work.<\/p>\n<h2>The Opposition\u2019s Struggle Continues<\/h2>\n<p>Janitors have been simultaneously fighting in two areas. On the one hand\u00a0 against the employers\u2019 voracity, and on the other, against union leaders who undermine working class organizations by enacting bureaucratic and top-down practices within the unions. This situation has encouraged activists to look for alternative ways of strengthening workers\u2019 political work. That is to say, novel platforms from which to make claims on the bosses: wage increases, health insurance for the worker and her family, the right to a job, and the right to a pension plan. Furthermore, activists are seeking ways of democratizing the union and fighting against union leaders\u2019 special privileges. That means, the same wages and benefits that the janitors receive for the president, vice president, and all of the union staff.<br \/>\nThis is the fight of our true union leaders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By La Voz San Jose In this text, we present a critical reflection of union organizer Mike Garc\u00eda\u2019s political work with SEIU-USWW.\u00a0 Garc\u00eda recently passed away on March 26, 2017.\u00a0 With a view on how Mike Garc\u00eda\u2019s work both strengthened and enhanced workers\u2019 struggles and mobilizations, we undertake a review of his 26-year career as [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13882120,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27671],"tags":[29594,29566,28045,27783],"class_list":["post-7718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized-en","tag-mike-garc","tag-new","tag-san-jose","tag-seiu"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.2","language":"es","enabled_languages":["en","es"],"languages":{"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"es":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false}}},"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdQxqk-20u","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13882120"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7718\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}