Reform or Dying Gasp

25 July 2005



AFL-CIO May Split, Teamsters and SEIU Lead the Way Out

America’s largest labor entity, the AFL-CIO, came into being in 1955 when the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merged. The AFL, led by Samuel Gompers, was a rather conservative political force, opposing the socialists in the Knights of Labor. The CIO, led by John Lewis of the United Mineworkers, was a more militant bunch. However, the merger offered both a strength in unity that their separate characters prevented. Now, it looks like the marriage may be over, but the question is will it be a divorce or a death that ends it?

American labor leaders talk a good game. The fact is, though, that the Bureau of Labor Statistics said in January that 12.5% of US workers were unionized in 2004, down from 12.9% in 2003. That’s a far cry from the 20.15% seen in 1983. More qualitatively, the politicians complain in the media about the loss of “good paying jobs,” while it seems union membership can’t do a thing about it. Moreover, organized labor is no longer able to affect national elections (although, more locally, it still packs a punch).

The AFL-CIO has about 13 million members, and it has been led by John Sweeney for ten years. He’s up for re-election as president at the group’s convention this week, but many think it’s time for him to go. The 1.8 million-member Service Employees International Union [SEIU] is leading a group called the Change to Win Coalition, which also has the backing of the Teamsters, the United Food and Commercial Workers [UCFW], and UNITE-HERE, which represents textile and hotel workers. These five unions pay in $35 million a year to the AFL-CIO, and they may be leaving. Mr. Sweeney has made some concessions, pulling support from most of the federation's unions representing teachers, government employees and construction and communications workers – enough to ensure his re-election.

But at what price victory? "We've been trying to debate these matters for a long time," one top SEIU leader told Juan Gonzalez of New York’s Daily News, "If we can't get some real change, we've got better things to do with our time and our money." Mr. Gonzalez believes the SEIU, Teamsters and UFCW may actually pick up and leave. Which would put Mr. Sweeney in a difficult position – the AFL-CIO constitution says its officers have to belong to a member union. Mr. Sweeney is in the SEIU, so if that union leaves, he becomes a man without a country.

The rebels have members, and therefore, organizing funds. If they can unionize those without membership cards in sufficient quantities, their action would be justified. The question is whether anyone can succeed where Mr. Sweeney has failed. The union movement is losing members, and corporate interests in the US are firmly entrenched in both political parties as well as in the judiciary’s collective mind. Those fighting for workers’ rights often have more luck in a courtroom than on a picket line in 21st Century America. Today, Joe Hill would get a law degree.


© Copyright 2005 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.
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