Hispanopedia Wiki
Articulo de referencia

Richard Bensinger

Richard Bensinger is an author, American labor activist, and labor consultant known for his advocacy of expanded organizing efforts. He is the founder of the Organizing Institut...

Hispanopedia WikiContenido en espanolLectura gratuita

Richard Bensinger is an author, American labor activist, and labor consultant known for his advocacy of expanded organizing efforts. He is the founder of the Organizing Institute and was the first organizing director of the AFL-CIO.[1] He is currently the acting organizing director for the United Auto Workers union.

Life and career

After attending the University of Colorado at Boulder, Bensinger began his involvement with labor as a Head factory worker, where he helped organize the plant. After working as a volunteer organizer for the Clothing Workers Union, he became the union's regional director. In 1986 he moved to Washington, D.C. to found the Organizing Institute, and in 1994 he became the first person to hold the position of National Organizing Director for the AFL-CIO.[2]

While there, Bensinger emphasized the need for unions to rebuild their shrinking base of popular support, and encouraged locals to put more money in organizing efforts. “Two years ago only 15 local unions out of the thousands in this country had moved 20% of their budgets into organizing. … Today, 150 have,” Fortune magazine reported him as saying shortly before being fired from the AFL-CIO position in 1998.[1]

Bensinger was removed from his position by then-president of the AFL-CIO John Sweeney, who replaced him with an SEIU career staffer, citing reasons of ineffectiveness.[3][4]

Bensinger now spends his time consulting for international unions on organizing strategies in the U.S. and Canada, and educating corporations and businesses on ethics in labor relations. He is also the author of Reaching Higher, a guidebook on best organizing practices for non-unionized employees hoping to form a union.[2]

In 2002, Bensinger co-founded the Institute for Employee Choice with Dick Schubert, a former president of Bethlehem Steel. During the political fight over the Employee Free Choice Act, or “card check” legislation, Bensinger and Schubert suggested a third way to conduct elections that relied not on laws passed by the U.S. Congress but on a voluntary code of conduct that would be upheld by both organizers and management. The “Golden Rule” in this code was “Unions and employers need to behave as they would like the other to behave.”[5]

En 2010, el presidente de United Auto Workers (UAW), Bob King, contrató a Bensinger para organizar las fábricas de trabajadores japoneses, coreanos y alemanes en Estados Unidos como parte del trabajo de la UAW para aumentar la membresía. [ 6 ] [ 7 ]

A partir de 2020, Bensinger continúa recibiendo pagos por trabajos de consultoría de la UAW, así como de Workers United en Rochester, NY y la United Brotherhood of Carpenters, entre otros. [ 8 ]

En otoño de 2021, Bensinger trabajó con Jaz Brisack [ 9 ] y la campaña Workers United para organizar a los trabajadores de 6 cafeterías Starbucks en Buffalo, Nueva York . [ 10 ]

Véase también

Referencias

  1. 1 2 Whitford, David (28 de septiembre de 1998). "La oportunidad perdida del movimiento obrero. El presidente de la AFL-CIO, John Sweeney, puso en marcha al gran movimiento sindical por primera vez en una generación. Luego despidió a su principal organizador. ¡Ups!" . CNN Money . Archivado del original el 20 de octubre de 2012.
  2. 1 2 "¿Dónde está la indignación? Encendiendo la llama del movimiento de elección escolar" (PDF) . Archivado del original (PDF) el 15 de julio de 2011. Recuperado el 19 de julio de 2010 .
  3. ↑ Samuel, Leah (9 de agosto de 1998). "¿Desaparecerá el principal organizador de la AFL-CIO? ¿Sufrirá la organización sindical?" . Notas Laborales . Consultado el 15 de marzo de 2021 .
  4. ↑ Early, Steve (21 de enero de 1999). "Revisando las etiquetas sindicales" . The Nation .
  5. ↑ Whitford, David (19 de enero de 2009). "Una solución para la inminente batalla por la verificación de tarjetas" . CNN Money . Archivado del original el 1 de diciembre de 2022.
  6. ↑ Ingrassia, Paul (7 de febrero de 2011). "Los trabajadores automovilísticos unidos prueban un nuevo modelo" . Wall Street Journal . Archivado del original el 17 de junio de 2012.
  7. ↑ Bowman, Zach (6 de diciembre de 2010). "Informe: La UAW realizará una huelga de solidaridad con los trabajadores de Hyundai en Corea" . Archivado del original el 9 de diciembre de 2010.
  8. ↑ «OPDR» . olmsapps.dol.gov . Consultado el 15 de marzo de 2021 .
  9. ↑ Jaffe, Greg (12 de febrero de 2022). "Un barista becario Rhodes y la lucha por sindicalizar Starbucks" . The Washington Post . Consultado el 14 de febrero de 2022 .
  10. ↑ Jamieson, Dave (7 de diciembre de 2021). "Los trabajadores de Starbucks esperan formar el primer sindicato de la cadena en EE. UU. en Buffalo" . HuffPost . Consultado el 8 de diciembre de 2021 .
  • Instituto para la Elección del Empleado