Steve Lanning, Business Manager for Laborers’ International Union of North America Local 11, and discussed his favorite method of organizing.
LiUNA Local 11 is home to about 2,500 active members across the Washington D.C., Maryland, and Northern Virginia areas.
Lanning, who spent a portion of his career working as an organizer, shared his preferred method of organizing, known as sectoral organizing. He explained how sectoral organizing helps unions in the same region grow their wages together without competing against one another. As a result, this method creates a wage floor and allows unions to man jobs in their jurisdiction without losing members to jobs in neighboring Locals.
Lanning then discussed efforts between Local 11 and local governments to crack down on Wage Theft and worker misclassification. He said government officials are becoming more receptive to legislation targeting these abuses. For the first time in his career, Lanning has witnessed contractors complaining about the Prevailing Wage rates and enforcement of worker classification standards.
Also, he noted that local government officials are more receptive to increasing the Prevailing Wage rates These increases benefit not only organized labor, but the area as a whole. Lanning added that the increase in Prevailing Wage rates leads directly to an increase in the need for higher-quality workers to complete those jobs.
Listen to the entire episode to learn more about these topics.