AFL-CIO’s Revolt on Use of Dues Is Tamped Down

LAS VEGAS – The leadership of America’s largest labor organization, the AFL-CIO, yesterday appeared to put down – at least for the moment – a rebellion by several large and fast-growing unions that wanted to downsize dramatically the federation in order to direct more funds toward organizing workers.The dissidents’ plan, which called for the AFL-CIO to rebate up to 50% of the dues it receives from unions, was rejected by the federation’s executive committee after a fractious internal debate. The vote was 15 to 7. However, the opponents noted that their reform proposal won the backing of unions representing more than 40% of the members of the labor federation.The executive committee did recommend adoption of a watered-down version of the reform proposal, along with a commitment to boost the organization’s political spending.Following their defeat, the leaders of the major unions pressing for broad changes at the AFL-CIO held a first ever joint press briefing during which they vowed to continue the battle.“This is the beginning, not the end,” said the president of the Laborers International, Terence O’Sullivan. He was flanked by officials from the Teamsters, the United Food and Commercial Workers, the Service Employees International Union, and a union that represents hotel, garment, and laundry workers, Unite Here.Prior to this week’s meetings, at least one labor group, the Service Employees International Union, had threatened to withdraw from the umbrella organization and start a new one if reforms were not enacted. However, the dissenters said yesterday they had no immediate plan to break ranks.“I don’t know of anybody who’s planning on leaving the federation at this time,” said the president of the Teamsters, James Hoffa.The proposal that passed which was introduced by the president of the AFL-CIO, John Sweeney, will allow for rebates of up to 17% of dues to underwrite organizing efforts. Mr. Sweeney’s plan also calls for at least 50% of dues to be spent on political activities. That would effectively increase the federation’s spending on politics by $50 million over the next four years.While much of the talk at the sessions was of rebates, percentages, and mechanisms to make sure organizing funds were not diverted for other purposes, Mr. Hoffa said the import of the discussion was far broader.“The current debate is not about dollars. It’s about a vision of the future for the American labor movement,” he said.Mr. Hoffa and the others pressing for reforms said they would try to bring their reform plan to a vote at the AFLCIO’s quadrennial convention in July. That convention could also be the stage for a move to unseat Mr. Sweeney as president of the federation. The dissenters declined to comment yesterday on that possibility.Speaking to reporters yesterday outside the hotel ballroom where union meetings were taking place, the president of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Gerald McEntee, said he was growing impatient. “With the attacks that we’re under from the Bush administration, Schwarzenegger, or whomever, we’re trying to bring this together,” said Mr. McEntee, who has supported Mr. Sweeney over the dissenters.“They didn’t have the votes…. Where I grew up, 40% never won,” Mr. McEntee said. Asked if the vote reflected deep dissatisfaction with Mr. Sweeney’s leadership, Mr. McEntee said, “I don’t think it was a vote of no confidence.”In private discussions, some of Mr. Sweeney’s supporters have warned that the massive dues rebate would be the equivalent of “taking a sledgehammer to the organization.”However, in a briefing following the votes yesterday, the secretary-treasurer of the federation, Richard Trumka, offered only indirect criticism of the insurgents.He said their emphasis on organizing ignored the power that politicians have to undermine union goals.“You can’t simply outrun this problem,” said Mr. Trumka, who doubted any of the dissenting unions would leave the AFL-CIO. “If we stick together, I know we’ll get a solution and I know we’ll be able to not only survive but to grow,” he said. “If we get fragmented up, I think the various parts of the fragments are weaker.”At the dissenters’ press conference, the man who has come to personify the effort to overhaul the AFL-CIO, Andrew Stern, assumed a supporting role. Mr. Stern, who is the president of the Service Employees, left the formal statements to other union presidents and did not speak at all until reporters asked questions.According to participants in the discussions, Mr. Stern’s threat to leave the federation and his high profile in the movement alienated some of those who supported aspects of his reform plan. Some even took offense at his practice of posting his thoughts on the situation on a public Web log.All of the dissenting union leaders denied that they wanted to cut back labor’s involvement in politics and some said they actually wanted to increase that funding. However, they made clear that they believe organizing should be the highest priority. “I do not put my faith in elected officials of either party to change the lives of our members alone,” Mr. Stern said. “When work was rewarded, it was because one in three workers were in unions. Work wasn’t rewarded because we counted on the government to take care of us. It wasn’t rewarded because we did public policy.”Leaders of government employee unions, like Mr. McEntee, often tend to favor a more aggressive political approach because their members are more directly affected by politics. He said Republican victories in Indiana, Kentucky, and Missouri led to policy changes that wiped 60,000 members off of union rolls virtually overnight.“You can go out and organize some people, but we just lost 60,000 members,” he said.The debate often seems to be as much about style and vision as the substance of the proposals. Labor leaders on both sides of the rift concede that the dues rebate, which could amount to $35 million, will do little to stem the decline in union membership.A spokesman for the American Federation of Teachers, James Horwitz, said it costs about $1,000 a worker to organize a new local. At that cost, the dissenters’ plan could generate 35,000 new union members. In 2004, the AFLCIO’s membership declined by nearly 168,000.

AFL-CIO’s Revolt on Use of Dues Is Tamped Down

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