Connecting the Indivisible and Move to Amend Movements

“It’s time to move past ideology to reality. Government is our tool, that when wielded properly can help the American people grow our economy and strengthen our nation. We cannot simply dismiss the use of government to help solve problems. Government is US – not something being done to US.”

Source: Indivisible, https://www.indivisible.us

The Indivisible grassroots movement of resistance to the Trump administration and many Republican policies has attracted legions of people, many previously uninvolved, dedicated to the principle that government belongs to We the People, not the super wealthy or corporate interests. Phone calls, letters and direct actions at Town Hall meetings, Congressional offices and public pressure in other public spaces have contributed to specific victories against Presidential decrees, cabinet nominees and proposed Congressional legislation. 

The Move to Amend grassroots movement is a non-partisan, broad coalition of organizations and individuals, who share common values, working together to end all corporate constitutional rights (“corporate personhood”) and demand real democracy. Launched following the Supreme Court Citizens United 2010 decision, Move to Amend is working to enact the We the People Amendment (https://movetoamend.org/wethepeopleamendment), a constitutional amendment to unequivocally state that inalienable rights belong to human beings only, and that money is not a form of protected free speech under the First Amendment and shall be regulated in political campaigns. Both are essential elements to counter the hijacking of our government by corporate entities and the super wealthy.

Why Indivisible and Move to Amend should collaborate with one another to promote real democracy?

√ Reacting and responding to individual destructive actions by the President and Congress is essential to prevent immediate harms. Resistance alone, however, is following someone else’s agenda. Reaction must be complemented by proaction – educating, advocating and organizing for what we want. Short-term electoral and policy changes must be complemented by fundamental structural constitutional change that alters the basic rules of society to become more democratic, just and sustainable – which transcends political parties and ideologies.  It’s important to put out fires, but we’ll forever be firefighting unless we stop the arsonists who start them.

√ Move to Amend groups can provide assistance and supporters for Indivisible-sponsored actions that relate to corporate rule, money in elections, and democracy. They can help research and frame issues of interest to Indivisible groups, including why there’s a growing disconnect between public needs and existing public policies, and how fundamental changes are so difficult without constitutional changes.

√ Move to Amend can offer material and volunteers to Indivisible groups to arm you with a deep understanding of how our government isn’t broken, but instead "fixed", or rigged, to benefit the few over the many. This is due to profoundly undemocratic provisions of the US Constitution, as well as numerous Supreme Court decisions that granted corporate entities with constitutional rights ... In addition, the US Supreme Court declared money is constitutionally-protected political “free speech” under the 1st Amendment, meaning those with the most money to spend (or invest) in elections have the most speech – drowning out the political voices of the 99%.. The High Court made numerous decisions over the last century that applied various sections of the Bill of Rights and other articles of the US Constitution to corporate entities, provisions that were originally and solely {intended or meant}  for human beings. These never-intended corporate “rights” prevent us from fundamentally governing ourselves. Examples of these “rights” and their negative impacts include:

• 1^st Amendment Free Speech rights -- Perverted by corporations to donate/invest in elections  (right to speak), to thwart unionization and free association of workers with public ad campaigns, to prevent disclosure of harmful product ingredients, like genetically modified organisms, that communities have voted to disclose (rights not to speak), and to exempt the corporation from regulations, such as contraceptive coverage, that its owners object to on religious grounds (right to religious belief of the corporation)  
   
• 4^th Amendment Search and Seizure rights-- Perverted by corporations to avoid environmental, and worker health and safety inspections of corporate property. It’s also been used to prevent the disclosure of information -- most recently by Exxon-Mobil corporation of documents from past decades revealing its statements and scientific findings about climate change.
   
• 5^th Amendment Takings, Double Jeopardy and Due Process corporate rights -- Perverted by corporations to oppose environmental regulations protecting people and communities as “takings” -- meaning regulations that impact a corporation’s ability to make a profit can sue for future profits lost, creating a chilling effect for communities who would be responsible to pay corporations for lost profits. Corporations cannot be retried after a judgment of acquittal in court. The granting of property to a corporation by a public official cannot be unilaterally revoked by a subsequent public official or Act of Congress. 
   
• 14th Amendment Due Process and Equal Protection corporate rights -- Originally intended to end discrimination of freed male slaves, this Amendment was perverted by corporations to claim any law that corporations had no authentic role in shaping (due process violation) or singles out a class of corporations (e.g. multinational vs local) or a specific corporation is unconstitutional “discrimination” (equal protection violation). Corporations have used these rights to build chain stores and erect cell towers against the will of communities; oppose progressive taxation and other public policies favoring local businesses over multinational corporations; and resist democratic efforts to prevent corporate mergers and revoke corporate charters through citizen initiatives.    
   
• Commerce Clause-related rights (Article 1, Section 8) - Perverted by corporations to claim that scores of laws at the local and state level protecting the "health, safety, and welfare" of people in communities involving actions that cross state lines are unconstitutional. It has been used, for example,  to ship toxic waste from one state to another over community objections claiming the waste isn't actually "waste" but "commerce."  
   
• Contracts Clauses-related rights (Article 1, Section 10) -- Perverted by corporations to claim that a corporate charter isn’t a state-issued license permitting the state to define permissible corporate actions (as was originally the case), but rather a “party to a private contract” and, thus, shielded from many forms of control by We the People, who define their purpose and boundaries. 

  More info at https://movetoamend.org/why-abolish-all-corporate-constitutional-rights

√ Indivisible groups can be a powerful force joining with Move to Amend as we lobby for passage of the We the People Amendment (House Joint Resolution 54), which has over 72 cosponsors in the US House of Representatives. The goal in 2024 is introduction of the Amendment in the US Senate and to secure more House co-sponsors. Indivisible members can be valuable voices in meeting with federal elected officials or their staff by sharing their specific issue concerns and the difficulty in their advancement due to the political power of corporate entities and the super wealthy. Enormous public support and pressure must be amassed to overcome the inherent fixed/rigged political system.

If you’d like to learn more, please contact Move to Amend at (916) 318-8040 or email [email protected]. We can connect you with Move to Amend folks in your area, send a speaker to one of your meetings (depending on where you are located) and more! Your group can also use our Challenging Corporate Power Study Guide (designed specifically for Indivisible groups) to hold self-study sessions learning about how corporate power undermines our democracy at every turn and what you can do about it.

Connecting the Indivisible and Move to Amend Movements

Indivisible Outreach Plan for Affiliates

Challenging Corporate Power Study Guide for Indivisible Groups

This “Introduction to Organized Labor” has been produced by the Move to Amend Labor Caucus to introduce Move to Amend volunteers to the “real world” labor movement as experienced by some of your colleagues. Our hope is that this and other materials we will make available on labor will help Move to Amend Affiliates start or expand your work with unions. Labor is still a potent force in society that we most definitely need if we’re to successfully amend the Constitution.

Since we know that law follows culture, the Move to Amend Labor Caucus believes that working with local unions, right in your own area, is the best place to start. The relationships we build as organizers are more important than any brilliant strategy or tactics. These relationships will develop trust, solid friendships you can count on in the movement and a wealth of creative ideas, skills and resources that will add greatly to Move to Amend. We will eventually have a long list of state and national labor bodies that endorse Move to Amend, but it will all grow out of the roots of our work with local unions.

Some things to know when approaching labor unions about Move to Amend:

• Labor is not a monolith. Your success or lack thereof in working with unions depends overwhelmingly on the relationships you develop with individual people.
   
• As with any new relationship, basic politeness and listening to the concerns of the people you meet will go a long way. These qualities are as important as they are rare in society.
   
• Learn something about the union you are about to call on. Union web sites (for those that have them) can be quite limited. Something as simple as reading the local paper can alert you to concerns a union might have such as layoffs, expired contracts or strikes. Larger unions may still have a regular newspaper of their own. Try assigning someone in the group to do some research to see if you can get more background about what the union has been up to lately.
   
• Know the kind of workplaces the union represents. For example, the UAW (United Auto Workers) can represent hospital workers, public employees, graduate students and others. Teamsters, Steelworkers and other unions also represent a wide variety of workers in industry and service jobs in the public and private sectors. Don’t go by the name alone -- do your homework!
   
• Union membership has declined drastically in the U.S. since the 1950’s – when 35% of all workers were in unions – and continues to decline today. In the U.S., only 11% of all working people are in a union (6.6% of the private sector workforce and 36% of the public workforce). In contrast, in Iceland, 83% of workers are in unions, in Finland 69%, Canada 27%, Germany 18%.
   
• In fact, union membership in the United States is lower than most other countries, which may help explain the corresponding low numbers in U.S. quality of life indicators such as education, infant mortality, income and wealth inequalities. (NOTE: This is in large part a function of the structural barriers in labor law regarding forming and certifying a union here in the U.S., more so than in any other industrialized country in the world.)
   
• Don’t rely on a union’s national reputation or even its national literature to determine how open to Move to Amend a given local may be. You can rely on Move to Amend’s message to cut across ideological lines and appeal to union members who know all too well the power of corporations.
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• Make sure your printed materials distributed to labor groups has a union "bug," indicating it was printed in a union shop or if printed or copied by you that it has typed at the bottom "printed in house." 

Typical Union Structure

Before you get started, it is good to have an idea of how unions are structured and wherein the structure you will be doing your outreach. Each union is different to some degree but this chart illustrates a typical union structure to give you a sense of how Organize Labor is structured.

International Union: e.g., United Auto Workers (UAW), Service Employees International Union (SEIU), American Federation of Teachers (AFT), American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), etc.

Not all “international” unions in the U.S. are truly international in nature. Many typically include only Canada in their jurisdictions outside U.S. borders. One of the largest unions in the AFL-CIO, AFSCME, calls its top-level an “international” when by definition they represent state, county and municipal workers in the U.S., plus a smattering of federal workers. But regardless, the “international union” refers to the national level, national headquarters, and national staff.

Regional Body: Some internationals have structures that cover more than one state

State body: Most internationals have a state structure

Regional bodies within a state: depends on the union

Local unions: the organizational foundation

There is a related, parallel labor structure, the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), a national coalition of nearly every union in the country.

(Note: Prior to 1955, the AFL and the CIO were separate organizations. The CIO was formed in the 1930s as a way to promote unionizing steel, auto and other industrial workers who had historically not been eligible to join AFL unions based on individual crafts or trades. During the early Cold War era following World War Two, CIO unions were red-baited and required to sign loyalty oaths. One union, the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers (UE) refused to do so and remains outside the AFL-CIO.)

State AFL-CIO body: typically has its own officers, staff and treasury

Central Labor Council (CLC): covers a given city or metro area, a generic term for that city or area’s AFL-CIO coalition (ie, many different unions), usually has limited staff and treasury, depending on its size.

(NOTE: Contacting a Central Labor Council in your city or area is not necessarily a good “shortcut” when doing Move to Amend organizing. Depending on the politics of the CLC leadership, you could find it more difficult to meet with than individual unions. Even if CLC leaders are supportive and give you an opportunity to address a CLC meeting, you’ll address only the leadership of the local unions that attend that CLC meeting, not the memberships. So, if you happen to start with a CLC, be sure you let the local union leaders know you would also like to meet with their locals so you can talk directly with the membership.)

Additionally, there are usually organizations for “affinity groups” within the labor community, such as a public employees council (teachers, city, county, state workers), a building trades council (electrical workers, carpenters, ironworkers, sheetmetal workers, etc.) organized on a city, regional, state and national level as well. Typically these councils meet regularly, have their own officers, staff and treasury and are a good place to meet members of local unions you may not reach otherwise.

“Political action” in a union context almost universally means electoral politics. Depending on the union and the local practice, requests for endorsements/resolutions, etc. can be handled by the local union itself or may be sent through the union’s political action entity, such as the UAW’s Community Action Program (CAP) Council. Not to worry, this will all be explained appropriately for each case.

Be aware that many unions aren’t used to working in coalition with community groups.  “Active listening,” respect for busy schedules, patience and persistence are all important. 

Start Reaching Out

In the “old days,” the Yellow Pages were the go-to source for local union listings. Today, if YPs still exist, they’re likely very much truncated. Getting one from just a few years ago may likely have what you’re looking for. An internet search can probably find similar listings. But don’t forget to check with your public library as well.

Familiarize yourself with Move to Amend’s introductory “Phone Rap for Unions” and start calling.

You’ll likely get a secretary (the most important position in any office) who can work wonders relaying information to and from busy officials. Get the secretary’s name and use it when you call. Take a minute to chat if possible. What you’re looking for is a meeting with the local president or executive board to explain what Move to Amend is about.

Generally, a new idea needs to be vetted by the president and/or the executive board (usually called the “E-Board”) before it’s presented at a membership meeting. If they’re open to you making a presentation at a membership meeting, take it. How long you’ll have will vary greatly, but don’t expect more than 5-10 minutes, tops, if it’s at a meeting of the E-Board or the membership.

➤➤ MTA Intro to Organized Labor - PDF

Educational Resources:

• Glossary of Labor Terms
• Top Reasons Why Labor Supports Move to Amend
• Talking Points for Organized Labor

Outreach Resources:

• PDF: Labor Organizations Supporting Move to Amend
• Expand Human and Worker Rights
  • Full Page Handout 
  • Half Page Handout (PDF)
• Model Labor Union or Central Labor Council Resolution in Support of Move to Amend and the We the People Amendment
• Labor "Rap" for Outreach to Organized Labor

We aim to amend the U.S. Constitution to restore our democracy. This is a long-term campaign, because it requires the support of a large number of legislators and because large corporations will resist. However, most people will support our efforts if we reach out to them.

This Volunteer Kit provides guidance and resources for new and seasoned grassroots leaders on how to:

• Identify local events & opportunities to engage the community, educate about our campaign, and mobilize for actions
• Connect with supporters & organizations through tabling, teach-ins, public talks, and other Move to Amend activities
• Represent the coalition locally to community organizations and other potential partners to grow the coalition through endorsements and resolutions supporting the We the People Amendment

Bringing Move to Amend to Your Community

Polling shows that 80% of American public agrees with us that corporations shouldn’t have same rights of human beings and campaign spending should be limited, but they don’t know about our campaign or how to do it. That’s why we need to educate!

Organizing local events can be used to educate the public, to recruit members to your organization, to build relationships with other organizations, to get press coverage, and to raise money. Our grassroots leaders organize events like: 

• Public talks, teach-ins, and presentations to other groups to earn their support.
• Petitioning and tabling at local events, rallies, etc.
• We also stand in solidarity with marginalized communities and other groups by attending and sharing events they organize, building trust and authentic relationships in order to connect their causes with our cause to end corporate rule.

Tools:

• Bring Move to Amend to Your Community
• Hold a Public Forum, Teach-In or Movie Showing
  • Recommended Documentaries
• MTA Petitioning Kit
• Downloadable scan and sign petition QR code
• Downloadable and tearable scan and sign QR codes
• Downloadable and tearable flyers (4-per page)

Webinars:

• Taking Move to Amend to Your Neighbors (Sept 2012)

Engaging Your Community & Organizations

As you grow your local coalition, we encourage you to reach out to a broad spectrum of people, and to refrain from involving members of only one partisan group. Remember that diversity brings strength to organizations, and work to create a welcoming environment for everyone. If your membership reflects the diversity of your community, you will be more effective and less vulnerable to opposition than an organization that reflects the views of only a few community members. 

Take care in developing the group that will form the core of a new organization: making contact with people beyond your own circle and being willing to spend sufficient time in the development stage can pay off in the long run. Because our culture restricts our vision, it is important to actively reach out to the community to acquire diverse opinions and perspectives. Strive to create dialogue around how the goals of the organization will change as it is enriched by a variety of people bringing new opinions to the table. Expect resistance inside yourself to this process. When we passionately wish to begin a project, we are likely to be attached to our own vision of the goals, our methods and the contribution we make. This can make it hard to open up the process and collaborate, but doing this can lead to better responses to complex issues.

Tools:

• Principles of Democratic Leadership
• Dismantling Oppression Continuum
• Working with Volunteers

Webinars:

• Organizing with Students (June 2013)

Building Local Coalitions

If you are interested in bringing together a coalition of organizations, the first step is to carefully consider what role you expect the coalition to play. A coalition can be formed with a broad mission (such as working on Move to Amend issues generally) or to accomplish a specific task (such as conducting a resolution campaign). Of course, a coalition formed around a specific task may continue on after the task is accomplished and move on to broader, longer-term collaboration.

First, have a conversation within your own organization about forming a coalition. Then reach out to the leaders and members of other groups to present the idea and ask for their input. Explain the link between Move to Amend issues and each organization's primary focus, and describe clearly how participating in a shared effort would achieve specific goals. Once you have generated interest, set up a time for representatives of the prospective coalition partners to meet in person or conduct a conference call. Discuss the role of the coalition, identify goals and specific tasks, and create a timeline by which to chart progress. Select future meeting dates, decide how you will keep in touch between meetings, and discuss outreach to other organizations to grow the coalition.

Tools: 

• Solicit Organizational Endorsements
• Model Resolution for Councils & Organizations
• Building Coalitions Webinar (Presentation Only)

Talking Points:

• Outreach to Organized Labor
• Outreach to Faith-Based & Ethical Values Communities
• Outreach to Indivisible

Webinars:

• Recruiting and Retaining Volunteers (February 2013)