Teamsters, SEIU Decide to Bolt AFL-CIO (biggest schism since the 1930s)

Yahoo News ^ | 7/24/05 | RON FOURNIER

[Libloather]

Teamsters, SEIU Decide to Bolt AFL-CIO
By RON FOURNIER, AP Political Writer
21 minutes ago

CHICAGO - Jolting organized labor, the Teamsters and a massive service employees' union decided Sunday to bolt the AFL-CIO, paving way for two other labor groups to sever ties in the movement's biggest schism since the 1930s.

The four dissident 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 Change to Win Coalition, a group of seven unions vowing to accomplish what the AFL-CIO has failed to do: Reverse the decades-long decline in union membership. 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, the largest AFL-CIO affiliate with 1.8 million members, has spearheaded the exodus and will announce Monday that it is leaving the AFL-CIO, said several labor officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Teamsters plan to declare their departure at the same "Change to Win" news conference, officials said.

Two other boycotting unions signaled similar intentions: United Food and Commercial Workers and UNITE HERE, a group of textile and hotel workers. But they were not scheduled to take part in Monday's news conference, officials said.

"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. The dissident presidents vowed Sunday to abstain from AFL-CIO leadership votes, even after the convention.

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.

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.

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 are 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.

It's the biggest rift in organized labor since 1938, when the CIO split from the AFL. The organizations merged in the mid-1950s.

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 a year from the estimated $120 million annual budget of 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 2001.

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 (news, bio, voting record), D-Ill., chairman of the House campaign committee.

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.

[Libloather]

...the decades-long decline in union membership.

More bad news for the RATS...

[Army Air Corps]

I noticed that they blame everything BUT their leadership and uber-left polictics. If unions had moved towards political neutrality and stuck to negotiating contracts, and not playing games with dues, they might have fared better.

[byteback]

hmmmm.....anyone else see a chance to get their votes by protecting the border and therefore their jobs?

[Gondring]

hmmmm.....anyone else see a chance to get their votes by protecting the border and therefore their jobs?

Yeah...Hillary. </sarc> :-(

[AzaleaCity5691]

If the Unions had followed the advice of Daley then chances are, the Democrats would still be the majority.

The reason we are the majority today is because of liberalism, it's all about the culture wars, or as I like to put it, the normal people vs the liberal whackos

[byteback]

On second thought most of the SEIU protests are in spanish.

[Sgt_Schultze]

HAhahahahaha! Look at the irony -

..."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.

Sound exactly like a STRIKE to me! And Sweeny doesn't like it

Hahahahahahahaha!

[bobo1]

You are very correct.

Blessings, Bobo

[Sthitch]

Divide and concur! My grandfather was put out of business by a wildcat Teamsters strike, nothing would make me happier than the see that union, and their thug comrades broken.

[Army Air Corps]

"...the normal people vs the liberal whackos"

That has to be the most succint description that I have heard in a long time. It is accurate AND descriptive.

[xzins]

These old unions are corrupt and all the leaders want is their own access to accounts.

[FlingWingFlyer]

A divided labor movement worries Democratic leaders who rely on the AFL-CIO's money and manpower on Election Day.

There is some stuff going on with the Buddhist monks too. Not "lookin' good" for the rich, white boys down at the DNC.

[Army Air Corps]

Well, I have never been a union member, but I have known a lot of folks who have been in them. All but a few have griped about them and loathe working under them. The oly folks who I have met who had ggod things to say about them worked for a carpenter's union. They liked the union because it focused on getting work contracts for its members and that was it.

[Army Air Corps]

"There is some stuff going on with the Buddhist monks too."

Again?! What has happened this time? Let me guess, more PRC donations funneled through "generous donors."

[bobo1]

I was with the Teamster's Union years back. I resented their politics, alas, I had to pay dues to keep my job. I wasn't the only one.

Blessings, Bobo

[mmercier]

>> Sweeney's allies are primarily industrial unions whose workers are facing the brunt of global economic shifts.

Sweeney's "allies" (read "controllers") are the public employee unions.

They could give a chit about working people, they intend to tax employers into penury. Why should they care in the end, they work for the "public" sector.

America must eventually acknowledge the existence of a political party that is solely dedicated to, and responsible for, the growth of governing structures; growth to the point where all else is subservient and all else is financially held accountable to their payrolls.

That structure will be born of the surviving rats and what remains of the AFL-CIO. We will likely get there from here with the vast majority still bitching about the evil rich people.

Wont they be surprised when they find out they are the "rich people"....

[RightDemocrat]

Labor might actually benefit from this. The Teamsters have long been willing to work with both parties and good track record of getting higher wages for their members. Unions can still be effective but the AFL-CIO has been using World War II era tactics. Labor would have been better off spending more on organizing efforts and less on political campaigns. And unions like the AFL-CIO have let workers down on issues like immigration.

[Southack]

Two big things are going on with this split. The first is that the AFL-CIO has put all of its eggs into the Democratic Party basket for decades...locking itself completely out of Power today.

The second is that carpenters (among others) have nothing in common with the left-wing, Che T-shirt-wearing anarchists who burn down homes and torch SUV's, or with the Greens who want government to ban all new home construction as evil "urban sprawl." In other words, the Private unions (all 5 million members) are breaking away from the nutcase Public unions (8 million members).

[Hank Rearden]

(clearing throat) Ahem.

Unions must die. Die, unions, die. Die, Die, Die!

Corrupt, lazy, worthless, parasitic thugs.

[Army Air Corps]

That is the same story that I have heard time and again. I worked with an older gent who was in the merchant marine. He left the MM to enter the Coast Guard. His explanation for the leaving the MM was the union. He said the meetings were a joke (they did not like it when anyone questioned the decisions of the leadership), threats from union reps, and dues that increased for no explicable reason.