Labor Builds Power in the South: AFL-CIO Organizing in Three Regions

The Changing South

Leading the effort within the national AFL-CIO, Executive Vice President Tefere Gebre was familiar with organizing in seemingly conservative terrain. Gebre had overseen the transformation of the Orange County AFL-CIO in the home of California conservatism. Economic and population growth, changing demographics with growing immigrant communities, and persistent economic contradictions between growing wealth and growing inequality have proven fertile ground for building a dynamic and effective labor-community movement that has turned the region into contested terrain.

Since the CIO’s Operation Dixie failed in the 1950s . . . the American labor movement has not made significant efforts to build a multiracial, working-class movement in the South.

Similar conditions have developed in our three southern cities. All three have experienced economic expansion and rapid population growth. The Dallas–Fort Worth metropolitan region is the fourth largest in the country, Houston the fifth, and Miami the eighth. All have gone from majority white regions to majority people of color, with immigrant populations expanding in overall proportion. By 2017, at least 7 percent of Miami-Dade residents were Latino, 18 percent were black, and only 13 percent were non-Hispanic white. ¹ Overall in Texas, Latinos make up 40 percent of the population—almost as numerous as whites at 42 percent. ²

The potential political impact of these demographic changes seems clear. For example, seven of the ten U.S. Congressional Districts in the Texas Gulf Coast region (with Houston in the center) are currently represented by Republicans. However, in all but two of these, Latinos, African-Americans, and Asians combined either equal or outnumber the white population. Eight of the ten U.S. Congressional Districts in the Dallas–Fort Worth region are represented by Republicans. While half of these eight are majority white, three are majority people of color with another close to becoming so. As many interviewees argued, “Texas is not so much a conservative state as a non-voting state.” With a voting rate of 51.6 percent in 2016, Texas was third lowest. If Latinos alone voted at the same rate as whites and African-Americans, these metro regions and Texas as a whole would transform politically. In terms of voters, South Florida is the “bluer” part of the state, with the electorate becoming even more left-leaning as a result of newer immigration and generational shifts in the region’s Cuban-American population.

In all three regions (Miami, Dallas–Fort Worth, and Houston), the working-class constituency for an economic change agenda has also arguably grown as the benefits of economic growth and seeming prosperity have gone to the few at the expense of many. Miami, for example, is a site of tremendous inequality—a place where more than half of all jobs are low-wage positions in the service sector that pay an average of $32,000 per year and, according to a recent measure, the U.S. metropolitan region with the biggest gap between rich and poor. ³ Dallas–Forth Worth and the Texas Gulf Coast have similar patterns with the fastest growing jobs in low-wage sectors. We should also note that national headlines of “natural disasters” in both Florida and Texas also draw attention to how climate change is exacerbating inequality and the need for working-class communities to mount a collective response.

Central Labor Council Revitalization

The American labor movement had traditionally operated with weak central labor bodies. They have been given relatively little resources and little has been expected of them in return. And while the labor councils in our three metropolitan regions followed this general pattern, some had had progressive, forward-looking leaders who attempted innovative work. Yet, they did not enjoy access to all the necessary pieces to achieve a sustainable scale needed to transform their regions.

In revisiting these regions, the national AFL-CIO hoped to combine two elements needed to succeed: raised expectations and increased resources. These federations chose these regions, in part, because their changing demographics promised organizing opportunities in politically important parts of the country. In all three metro-regions federation leaders and staff facilitated strategic planning for the regional labor councils: the South Florida AFL-CIO, the Dallas AFL-CIO, and what is today the Texas Gulf Coast AFL-CIO.

In revisiting these regions, the national AFL-CIO hoped to combine two elements needed to succeed: raised expectations and increased resources.

The planning process encouraged leaders of unions both currently affiliated and not affiliated with the regional body to imagine what they could achieve together with a revitalized body. In some cases, the specific planning marked a much larger cultural shift within the regional AFL-CIO body toward greater inclusion and participation. This planning, however, would have meant little if more resources had not been drawn to the table. The national AFL-CIO contributed solidarity grants. Union locals chose to affiliate or increased their affiliation contributions. And national staff worked with local leaders to attract foundation funding. A Robert Wood Johnson “Culture of Health” grant was awarded to the national AFL-CIO in 2015. The grant was designed to help build community-labor coalitions in Dallas, Houston, and Miami, focused on “joint planning, relationship-building, learning and project development.” The South Florida Labor Council received $401,000 for a two-year period and was able to hire a community engagement coordinator. The Council decided to focus on climate change as it relates to housing, flooding, frequent storms, and other problems that working people face in the region, and the coordinator convened a planning group of labor and environmental stakeholders.

The South Florida Labor Council . . . decided to focus on climate change as it relates to housing, flooding, frequent storms, and other problems that working people face in the region. . .

In metro Houston the process went one step further when the four surrounding labor councils were merged with the Harris County AFL-CIO to form the Texas Gulf Coast Area Labor Federation—drawing resources from a thirteen-county area. With the area labor federation taking over administrative and staffing functions the former labor councils became Labor Assemblies, focused on drawing volunteer participation within the huge geographic area.

The new resources allowed these regional AFL-CIO bodies to significantly increase their staffing, which had previously been limited to one full-time officer. Generally speaking the regional bodies were able to bring on full-time staff around political mobilization and community coalition-building. The Texas Gulf Coast AFL-CIO went to a full-time executive director model, with a volunteer president. ⁴ The regional efforts also benefited from changes within their state AFL-CIOs. Both the Dallas and Texas Gulf Coast AFL-CIOs have received valued support from a dynamic Texas AFL-CIO that the national AFL-CIO has also helped to better resource. Electorally, the state federation has evolved to promote a grassroots mobilization-based politics driven by an economic-justice “Fair Shot” agenda, especially aimed at non-voting members of working-class communities.

While involving many aspects, the strategic planning in all three regions produced programmatic transformations in two major areas: community coalition-building and political action.

Coalitions with the Community

Organized labor in the United States has only ever grown when part of a broader impulse of progressive social and economic change. As cross-union labor bodies, AFL-CIO structures should be the natural vehicle for building connections with the broader working-class communities. Recent changes in all three of our cases have emphasized growing capacity to pursue alliances with community groups. These efforts include three shared elements:

Historically much of the U.S. labor movement was built by immigrant workers and their sons and daughters. Given their large immigrant populations, the future of the labor movement in all three metropolitan areas depends upon building alliances with immigrant communities. All three AFL-CIO bodies have pursued such work. In Houston, this first took the form of “know your rights” classes held in union halls. Since the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president the Texas Gulf Coast AFL-CIO has helped lead a more general “resistance” coalition called Houston Unido. On the community side the coalition includes such groups as the Texas Organizing Project, Mi Familia Vota, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, and Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services. The South Florida AFL-CIO has invested in a citizenship project focused on workers in unionized workplaces. Rather than creating a new program from scratch, the central labor council hired a staff person to manage a partnership with the Florida Immigrant Coalition (FLIC) on a citizenship clinic program it had been running since 2012. In a right-to-work state this effort brought in new union members.

When thinking about labor-immigrant organizing today unions such as SEIU and UNITE-HERE typically come to mind. However, with a need to find and train a new generation of construction workers, today’s building trades can be central players in labor council and federation efforts to build community alliances, including with immigrant communities. For example, the Dallas AFL-CIO teamed up with the Worker Defense Project (a worker center based in Austin, Dallas, and now Houston) to pass a rest break ordinance in Dallas that covers over 120,000 construction workers. The campaign included a labor-community thirst vigil outside of City Hall following the tragic and preventable death of construction worker Roendy Granillo from heat exhaustion 40 miles outside Dallas. In Texas, the non-union construction workforce is heavily Latino. The labor council [in Dallas–Fort Worth] also worked with the construction trades to create Project Phoenix—a comprehensive “second-chance” program that helps young (18 to 30 year old), first-time, non-violent felony probationers get good paying jobs in the construction trades via union apprenticeship training. The majority of people in America’s prisons come from communities of color.

Given their large immigrant populations, the future of the labor movement in all three metropolitan areas depends upon building alliances with immigrant communities.

The Houston Gulf Coast Building and Construction Trades Council is led by a Latino, Executive Secretary Paul Puente. The Texas Gulf Coast AFL-CIO, including its newly formed Clergy and Laity for Economic Advancement and Renewal, are working with the Trades Council to pass a local Responsible Bidder Ordinance (RBO). With few local prevailing wage standards in place the construction trades unions generally do not get a great deal of public-linked construction work. Low-wage and often law-breaking contractors often underbid union or more responsible firms. The RBO would set minimum requirements for contractors and subcontractors bidding on publicly funded projects, beginning to level the playing field between high-road and low-road contractors.

In South Florida, the 2015 Responsible Wages Ordinance covers public construction projects of over $100,000 in Miami-Dade County. It resulted from a campaign by the labor council and faith and community organizations to update the 1999 Living Wage Ordinance. The labor council played “co-pilot” with the building trades unions in waging the campaign, drawing in community and other labor supporters, and fighting the anti-prevailing wage propaganda of the Associated Builders and Contractors. The work resulted in a unanimous win at the county commission. By 2018, the required wage rate was $13.20 per hour with qualifying health benefits valued at least $1.91 per hour, otherwise $15.11 per hour.

Through their economic development policies local governments can begin to tackle the fundamental issue of growing inequality and low-quality jobs in their region. The South Florida AFL-CIO recently got the county to increase its minimum wage to $10.31/hour ($2.26 above the state minimum), although the measure was later ruled to violate the state’s minimum wage preemption statute. Following the election of Sylvester Turner, the Texas Gulf Coast AFL-CIO and its ally the Texas Organizing Project pushed for new city economic development standards that would require clear commitments on subsidized projects for living and sustainable wages, use of accredited apprenticeship programs, job training, a second chance for former offenders, and community benefits.

Aggressive Political Action

Coordinating electoral work has long been a central function of central labor bodies. In all three regions the labor councils and area labor federation have tried to significantly raise the ambitions and impact of labor’s political action. The new work reflects organized labor’s more long-term shift from a traditional model of raising and donating funds for candidate campaigns to placing more resources directly into vigorous person-to-person mobilization. These grassroots efforts increasingly use the legal framework of the independent expenditure campaign.

The revamped electoral program also connects to greater interest in coordinating with allies. By 2015, the Dallas AFL-CIO had formed Communities United for a Greater Dallas (CUGD) with the Texas Organizing Project, Workers Defense Project, Faith in Texas, Planned Parenthood of Texas, and Alliance/American Federation of Teachers. The coalition partners have worked together on both electoral and issue campaigns. Communities United for a Greater Houston became the rubric for labor-community joint action in Houston’s 2015 mayoral race. The coalition included the Texas Organizing Project, whose canvasing operation and electoral program was far larger than anything organized labor had been able to mount.

The traditional labor endorsement process focuses on having candidates fill out a questionnaire and attend an interview process. The Houston coalition went one step further for the 2015 mayoral race (and the 2017 city council races in the working-class suburb of Pasedena) by requiring endorsement seekers to attend a half-day candidates academy. Representatives of labor and its allies took turns explaining their issues and expectations to the candidates. The coalition also presents a shared platform. The Dallas AFL-CIO and its allies have similarly used “boot camps” to require school board and city council candidates to learn about the partners’ issues and make commitments to supporting working families in the region.

New and enhanced ways of doing electoral work feed into greater ambitions for what labor and its allies can accomplish. In Dallas, labor’s joint electoral program now encompasses all fourteen city council races rather than just targeting a few. In greater Houston the area labor federation has coordinated action not just in Harris County races but also efforts in suburban Fort Bend County, which includes the majority-minority, Republican-represented 22nd U.S. Congressional district, as well as aiding efforts around the coastal Galveston region.

The labor council [in Dallas–Fort Worth] also worked with the construction trades to create Project Phoenix—a . . . program that helps young (18 to 30 year old), first-time, non-violent felony probationers get good-paying jobs in the construction trades via union apprenticeship training.

Greater political ambition requires greater resources. This can take the form of unions and allies increasing their expenditures. However, the greater coordination that flows through the regional AFL-CIO can also focus and raise the impact of collective effort. In the 2016 election the South Florida AFL-CIO managed a local get-out-out-the-vote-effort staff from many different local unions. In addition to coordination work during election seasons, the Texas Gulf Coast AFL-CIO has developed a Mobilization Action Team program to increase in-district pressure from union members on state and local policymakers. Through a one-day training the federation prepares affiliate members to talk to legislators and volunteer as political activists. The program allows affiliates to develop their members’ skills while also building a direct volunteer base for the federation.

The revamped electoral action has delivered results. In 2017 in Florida, labor’s mobilization likely provided the 1300-vote margin that allowed Democrat Annette Taddeo to win State Senate district 40 in a special election following court-ordered redistricting. Today, ten of the fourteen members of the Dallas city council were supported by labor and its allies. Measures, such as the rest break ordinance, that had been previously rejected by the city council are now law. Labor and its allies arguably provided the decisive margin for Sylvester Turner to become Houston’s new mayor in a very close 2015 race. Sylvester ran on a platform of addressing economic inequality, which attracted support across the city’s diverse working class. In 2016, an even larger electoral program delivered wins in the three targeted races for county-level offices (sheriff, district attorney, and tax-assessor). All three candidates ran on strong progressive positions around immigrant protections, reducing mass incarceration, and voting rights—all issues of prime importance to the city’s diverse working class.

Regional success at expanding the electorate around progressive issues can also translate into potential state-level transformation. Local champions become seasoned politicians who then run for state offices, drawing on the voter and volunteer base built through municipal campaigns and using the issue agenda already established through local organizing. Just over half of the Texas population—and accompanying state legislative seats—lives in either the Houston or Dallas–Fort Worth metropolitan statistical areas. The Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach metropolitan statistical area makes up nearly one-third of Florida’s population.

Greater regional electoral mobilization and the development of strong local progressive candidates have implications for national politics. In 2016, increased voter turnout in Harris County saw the Democratic presidential vote jump from a victory margin of 585 for Obama in 2012 to 161,511 for Clinton. Neighboring Fort Bend County went from a seven-point Obama loss to a seven-point Clinton win. Hillary Clinton won Dallas County with 61 percent of the vote, three points more than Obama in 2012. While Trump won all of the rest of the region’s counties, he did so by margins significantly lower than Romney’s 2012 vote in the three other most populous counties. These results suggest there was not as significant a loss of union voters to Trump, as seen in other parts of the country, as well as grassroots success at expanding the region’s electorate. ⁵

Conditions Are Ripe for Organizing

The experiments explored in our cases are only a couple years old. Yet, we have seen clear changes with growing coalition work, stronger affiliate engagement, a growing electoral program, and concrete electoral and legislative wins. While the on-the-ground gains are real, what is most apparent are the heightened expectations expressed by the people we interviewed. Today the labor council/federation, affiliate leaders, and allies debate and grapple with plans, opportunities, and challenges more ambitious than what would have been discussed even a few years ago. The biggest lesson to come out of this experience is that conditions are in place to do significant and meaningful organizing in Dallas, Houston, Miami, and arguably elsewhere in the South with similar conditions.

Today the labor council/federation . . . and allies debate and grapple with plans, opportunities, and challenges more ambitious than what would have been discussed even a few years ago.

Change does not come without controversy, however. New organizational structures and new staffing have seen opposition and debate. Coalition work can cause tensions as different leaders value it differently. Immigrant rights activism, in particular, has been seen by some affiliate leaders as crucial to organized labor’s future, while others consider it a drift from core worker issues. Thus, a strong culture of inclusion, debate, and unity amid diversity is crucial to long-term success. Early electoral and legislative victories certainly have helped to strengthen commitment to the new program.

These regional movements are also in a race against their opponents. Anti-labor forces have tried to use conservative state legislatures against progressive regional power-building. Both Florida and Texas have banned local minimum wage laws, for example.

Breaking Up the Solid South

Being dangerous enough to try to outlaw is a back-handed compliment for the importance of labor-community organizing in these states. These three regions are not alone. The demographic changes, economic contradictions, and untapped possibilities for alliances likely apply to other southern regions as well. In the 1930s, metropolitan areas such as Detroit proved to be ground zero for the revival of the American labor movement. Michigan was an anti-union state. The auto industry was union free. Yet, the region was central to the nation’s economy while its economic contradictions compelled organizing. When conditions became right, workers—many of whom were immigrants or immigrants’ sons and daughters—forged a community-workplace movement that led to the great sit-down strike wave and the modern labor movement. Imagine how a transformed Texas and Florida might spark national change.