A New Alliance in New York State: A Progress Report on the Labor Movement's Restructuring, Capacity Building, and Programmatic Work

Abstract

The labor movement in New York State (NYS) has undergone a dramatic restructuring that is part of a national American Federation of Labor–Congress of Industrial Organizations program called the New Alliance. The purpose of the New Alliance is to build the capacity of local labor movements and to empower unions to help shape a region's political and economic agenda. The restructuring in NYS led to the consolidation of twenty‐five central labor councils into five area labor federations, each of which is developing the resources, staff, and leadership to help grow labor's regional power across the state. This article describes the origins of the New Alliance, the nature of the restructuring process, the ways in which the capacity of local labor movements are expanding, the programmatic work the restructured central bodies have undertaken in the last five years, and the impact of the national split on local and regional central bodies across NYS.

Building Power Together: Union Support for Central Labour Bodies

“…The ongoing New Alliance initiative developed in 1999 transforms central labour bodies by consolidating smaller CLCs into ALFs through restructuring or reviving larger, marginally functional CLCs with greater resources, capacity and strategic focus (Colburn et al . ; Flaherty ; Grabelsky ). The State and Local Labour Federations Leadership Institute, offered by the AFL–CIO's Field and Mobilization Department, assists CLC and state federation leaders in implementing organizational changes and improving the performance of their central labour bodies (Schurman ).…”

Building Labor's Power in California: Raising Standards and Expanding Capacity Among Central Labor Councils, the State Labor Federation, and Union Affiliates

“…This was true even in New York State where, in 2005, State Federation president Denis Hughes took real ownership of the process after convincing AFL-CIO president John Sweeney to select New York as the first New Alliance project. 29 Like other states that have engaged in this kind of revitalization process, the CLF established a statewide Strategic Planning Committee, comprised of top leaders from major affiliates. The state's fourteen largest unions all sit on the California committee.…”

“…29 29 See Jeff Grabelsky, “A New Alliance for New York State: A Progress Report on the Labor Movement's Restructuring, Capacity Building, and Programmatic Work,” in Working USA: The Journal of Labor and Society , Volume 10, March 2007. …”

Building Regional Capacity: The New Alliance Process in Pennsylvania

“…1 1 Jeff Grabelsky, “A New Alliance in New York State: A Progress Report on the Labor Movement's Re‐structuring, Capacity Building, and Programmatic Work,” WorkingUSA , Vol. 10 (March 2007), pp.…”