Posted on 07/24/2005 5:27:37 PM PDT by West Coast Conservative
The AFL-CIO succumbed to division Sunday, with its largest union deciding to bolt the 50-year-old federation and three others poised to do so in a dispute over how to reverse organized labor's long slide.
The four unions, representing nearly one-third of the AFL-CIO's 13 million members, announced they were boycotting the federation's convention that begins Monday, a step that was widely considered to be a precursor to leaving the federation.
They are part of the Coalition to Win, a group of seven unions vowing to reform and modernize the labor movement — outside the AFL-CIO if necessary. But many union presidents, labor experts and Democratic Party leaders fear the split will weaken the movement politically and hurt unionized workers who need a united and powerful ally against business interests and global competition.
The Service Employees International Union, with 1.8 million members, plans to announce Monday that it is leaving the AFL-CIO, said several labor officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the developments.
The Teamsters union was likely to disaffiliate at the same news conference, they said. Two other boycotting unions signaled similar intentions: United Food and Commercial Workers and UNITE HERE, a group of textile and hotel workers.
"Our differences are so fundamental and so principled that at this point I don't think there is a chance there will be a change of course," said UFCW President Joe Hansen.
Without directly saying so, coalition leaders seemed to be establishing the group as a newly minted rival of the AFL-CIO. "Today will be remembered as a rebirth of union strength in America," coalition chairwoman Anna Burger said.
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, expected to easily win re-election over the objections of the dissidents, suggested the dissidents were spoiled sports, leaving after their demands were not met.
"It's a shame for working people that before the first vote has been cast, four unions have decided that if they can't win, they won't show up for the game," Sweeney said. The rhetoric was unusually personal, in part because dissident leader Andy Stern of the SEIU is a former protege of Sweeney's.
Gerald McEntee, president of a government employees' union with more than 1 million members, accused his boycotting colleagues of aiding labor's political foes. "The only people who happy about this are President Bush and his crowd," he said.
Rank-and-file members of the 52 non-boycotting AFL-CIO affiliates expressed confusion and anger over the action. "If there was ever a time we workers need to stick together, it's today," said Olegario Bustamante, a steelworker from Cicero, Ill.
The boycott means the unions will not pay $7 million in back dues to the AFL-CIO on Monday. If all four boycotting unions quit the federation, they would take about $35 million from the AFL-CIO, which has already been forced to layoff a quarter of its 400-person staff.
Two other unions that are part of the Change to Win Coalition did not plan to leave the Chicago convention: the Laborers International Union of North America and the United Farm Workers. They are the least likely of the coalition members to leave the AFL-CIO, though the Laborers show signs of edging that way, officials said.
The United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, the seventh member of the coalition, left the AFL-CIO in 2002.
Leaders of the dissident unions say the AFL-CIO leadership has failed to stop the steep decline in union membership. In addition to seeking the ouster of Sweeney, they have demanded more money for organizing, power to force mergers of smaller unions and other changes they say are key to adapting to vast changes in society and the economy.
Globalization, automation and the transition from an industrial-based economy have forced hundreds of thousands of unionized workers out of jobs, weakening labor's role in the workplace.
When the AFL-CIO formed 50 years ago, union membership was at its zenith with one of every three private-sector workers belonging to a labor group. Now, less than 8 percent of private-sector workers are unionized.
The dissidents largely represent workers in retail and service sectors, the heart of the emerging new U.S. economy. Sweeney's allies are primarily industrial unions whose workers are facing the brunt of global economic shifts.
A divided labor movement worries Democratic leaders who rely on the AFL-CIO's money and manpower on Election Day.
"Anything that sidetracks us from our goals ... is not healthy," said Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., chairman of the House campaign committee.
In the 2004 campaign, unions ran nearly 260 phone banks and mailed out at least 30 million pieces of political literature in 16 states, mostly on behalf of Democrats.
Experts said the split might deepen labor's woes.
"Employer opposition to organizing might increase and I think that political opponents might feel emboldened, because they would see it as a sign of weakness," said Gary Chaison, industrial relations professor at Clark University in Worcester, Mass.
Others said competition might be good for the labor movement.
"Oh sure.. child labor.. factories that could be compared with death camps. "
Dick Durbin, is that you? :-)
Really, death camp analogies are best reserved for ... ahem, real death camps.
"Get kids off the streets and back into the coal mines and fields where they belong!"
now we spend $8,000 a year to educate kids, and 13 years of that => $100,000 later, many of them have no clue how to work and some can't read too good, er, well.
Ah, the good ol days (that werent so good but built character).
Rename those outdoor berry-picking jobs "alternative environmental work-based education" and you've got yourself
a place for the scamps who are abusing our current educational system. I think if Johnnie realized the alternative was days of hard labor, Johnnie might pay attention alot better in school!
Little Johnnie will learn soon enough. There are a lot of teens out there playing video games today who will be cleaning toilets tomorrow.
"and his crowd"
That is, the other 85% of us who aren't in unions some of whom are making 75K a year, in some instances, to hail cabs at airports.
(I live in Boston)
This is an SEIU led revolt. The SEIU is in bed with some of the most radical organizations in America including ANSWER, Code Pink and ACORN. They are leaders in the field of converting their members' money into support for left wing causes and rat politicians.
Don't expect that to change.
I had the misfortune to work at a company that was blackmailed into "voluntarily" becoming a Union shop.
I can say from my experiences there that the unions are really fronts for organized crime.
Time for them to be RICO'd out of existence!
"Hopefully this is only the first step towards destroying all unions. Once, long ago, unions might have a had a legitimate purpose, but no longer. Good Riddance!"
Unions are only as good as the leaders running them.
How about coal mines?
http://www.kentlaw.edu/ilhs/earlyday.htm
Most of the problems with unions would be solved with right-to-work. The leadership would have to clean up its act, politically as well as financially, or everyone would leave. It is a captive membership that makes the abuses possible.
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
These people should have unionized and fought these layoffs. ;-)
I wonder when all the organized crime killings will commence...there is no way that the shadier elements of these unions can allow such a split...neither can the Democrats....look for "calls for investigations" from Dem. congressional officials...look for the 'Pubs' to drag their feet!
Um...Actually there was a legit purpose. Maybe you are hung up on the name "unio." But if you substitute "guild" or just "association" such organizations of employees often did help their members. For example, my girlfriend is thinking about forming an association of X-Ray technicians to provide a more centralized method for such technicians to find employment when openings become available.
The unions never changed one law, but they were great at stealing their member's money and extorting good companies under the guise of that type of kool aid crap.
Comparing them to death camps puts your hyperbole right in Durbin's camp.
Jimmy Hoffa would be proud of you.
I was a union member long ago and it's WAY past that point.
Where are those steel mills?
That is entirely true, but, unfortunately the unions do, especially SEIU.
That is where the real trouble is, and has been, brewing for those unions. - a disconnect between the members and the union "agenda."
I belonged to that union 70 -73. Western Electric, King of Prussia, Allendale road plant.
["The real problems in the agency where I worked were created at top. The incompetence was breath taking."]
Yes, I agree with your comment. I should not have neglected to add in my comment that some of management wasn't always necessarily the cream of the crop as well.
Thanks for your response.
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