Teamsters, SEIU Decide to Bolt From AFL-CIO
Teamsters, SEIU Decide to Bolt From AFL-CIO
Two Other Unions Also Likely to Leave
By RON FOURNIER, AP
CHICAGO (July 25) - Organized labor is at war with itself as the Teamsters and a major service employees' union decide to bolt from the AFL-CIO, paving the way for two other groups to sever ties in the labor movement's biggest rift since the 1930s.
The Teamsters and the Service Employees International Union, the largest AFL-CIO affiliate with 1.8 million members, intended to announce Monday that they are leaving the federation after failing to reform the 50-year-old labor giant, according to several labor officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The unions are part of the Change to Win Coalition, seven labor groups 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.
Two other Change to Win Coalition unions signaled their intentions to leave the AFL-CIO: 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, said the officials who declined to be named because they were not authorized to discuss the developments prior to the news conference.
The four dissident unions, representing nearly one-third of the AFL-CIO's 13 million members, announced Sunday they were boycotting the federation's convention which begins Monday, a step that was widely considered to be a precursor to leaving the federation.
"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.
Leaders of the dissident unions say the AFL-CIO was beyond repair from within. In addition to seeking the ouster of AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, they 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.
"Today will be remembered as a rebirth of union strength in America."
-Change to Win Coalition chairman Anna Burger
Sweeney, whose was expected win re-election this week, said he had met many of the dissidents' reform demands, and suggested they had put their egos ahead of workers' interests.
"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 Sweeney protege.
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 reunited in the mid-1950s.
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. Most experts content the split could weaken organized labor, though some competition may be what's needed to jolt the movement from its slumber.
The convention 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 planned to remain at 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.
07/25/05 APNews
Re: Teamsters, SEIU Decide to Bolt From AFL-CIO
My only thought was, so what? Unions became irrelevant to most Americans years ago. Most union leaders don't give a damn about the workers, they are only interested in lining thier own pockets with cash. The corruption at most unions would make even the people at Enron blush.
Re: Teamsters, SEIU Decide to Bolt From AFL-CIO
The so what is that unions have voting power in elections, not unlike relgious groups. Their voice directly or indirectly affects policy in the US
Re: Teamsters, SEIU Decide to Bolt From AFL-CIO
True, but the vast majority of outsourced US jobs were outsourced in the first place because of the very high cost of US union labor. Thus union membership is shrinking, and along with the loss of membership comes loss of impact at the ballot box, loss of union financed 527 support for democrats etc. Also, any 'growth' in union membership seems to be occurring in gov't employees i.e. teachers and cops, or employees of gov't regulated industries i.e. utility companies, railroads, airports. Thus for several years now the interests of 'big government' advocates and the interests of most union leadership have become essentially the same. Remaining union membership from the private sector sees the downside.
Re: Teamsters, SEIU Decide to Bolt From AFL-CIO
Sounds that this dispute is partially a power struggle, intermixed with a style issue
of Sweenys (and the AFL-CIO's) 1948 era management style.
Re: Teamsters, SEIU Decide to Bolt From AFL-CIO
Quote:
Originally Posted by TnT
The so what is that unions have voting power in elections, not unlike relgious groups. Their voice directly or indirectly affects policy in the US
The unions may still have some political power in the northeast and in the "rust belt". However, in the west, south, and southwest, in other words, the parts of the country that are growing, unions have very little power at the ballot box. As the article mentioned, nationwide, less than 8% of the private sector workforce is unionized. Of that number, a large percentage of the rank and file probably vote Republican, not Democrat as their leaders instruct them to do. This is especially true with the NEA. Lots of teachers are conservative politically. I can assure you, you'll find few unionmembers in the south or southwest that are going to vote for a Mass. liberal like John Kerry, no mater what their leaders say. This is one example of how many union leaders are out of touch with their membership. The one area unions do have influence is in campaign contributions. They use their member's money to finance friendly democrats. That's why in my previous "regular" job, I refused to join the union.
Re: Teamsters, SEIU Decide to Bolt From AFL-CIO
Quote:
Originally Posted by Destiny
My only thought was, so what? Unions became irrelevant to most Americans years ago. Most union leaders don't give a damn about the workers, they are only interested in lining thier own pockets with cash. The corruption at most unions would make even the people at Enron blush.
LOL amen!!!!!!!!
A good plan gone wrong at the hands of human interaction.
With unions being only 10% or lower of the American workforce,I see this break, as the death of it altogether.
good riddence imo.
The only thing a union does is slow the work down and give slackers a place to live till retirement.
Re: Teamsters, SEIU Decide to Bolt From AFL-CIO
Quote:
The so what is that unions have voting power in elections, not unlike relgious groups. Their voice directly or indirectly affects policy in the US
Agreed.
However, their voting power is on the decline as is their membership. Politicians don't really care about unions anymore, since they've become irrelevant.
Look at CAFTA; unions are up in arms about it, and no one is listening.
All my corporate experience with unions made me feel like I was being extorted--it was simply criminal. The most egregious example was having to pay Teamsters thugs to move equipment from our vans to our booth at an industry convention in MA. $796 to move one box on a cart...and we couldn't reclaim our equipment until we'd paid the extortion fee--they held it hostage. I can only imagine how much the other, larger vendors were robbed.
Re: Teamsters, SEIU Decide to Bolt From AFL-CIO
Quote:
Originally Posted by Casual Observer
All my corporate experience with unions made me feel like I was being extorted--it was simply criminal. The most egregious example was having to pay Teamsters thugs to move equipment from our vans to our booth at an industry convention in MA. $796 to move one box on a cart...and we couldn't reclaim our equipment until we'd paid the extortion fee--they held it hostage. I can only imagine how much the other, larger vendors were robbed.
Been there, done that. I couldn't plug in an electrical cord. Cost me $225 to have that done.
If you want a good summary of the evolution of unions, read "Animal Farm" by George Orwell. Yeah, it's supposed to be about the Russian Revolution, but it applies.
On the other hand, I have no sympathy for corporations. CEOs run corporations into the ground, draining the company of assets, bail out of their multimillion dollar job with a multimillion dollar parachute, and the problem lies with "labor costs." It's bullshit like that that keeps what's left of unions alive.
Re: Teamsters, SEIU Decide to Bolt From AFL-CIO
Quote:
However, their voting power is on the decline as is their membership. Politicians don't really care about unions anymore, since they've become irrelevant.
If analyzed, this is now a very true statement. Like the black voting block and the gay voting block, the union voting block has traditionally supported democratic candidates. Therefore democratic candidates take union votes as a 'given', and see little risk that union votes will switch to the opposite side of the aisle if the desires of union leaders/voters are not met. At the same time, like black voters and gay voters, republican candidates see support from union voters as a practical impossibility no matter what sort of concessions they might make towards union leaders/voters. Furthermore, like the majority of 'hot button' issues of particular interest to black voters and gay voters, republican candidates see the issues advocated by union voters to be in fundamental conflict with their own political/economic philosophy. This leads to union voters finding themselves in a position similar to black voters and gay voters, i.e. exerting very little leverage today with either republicans or democrats due to their 'monolithic' support for democrats.
Re: Teamsters, SEIU Decide to Bolt From AFL-CIO
Quote:
Originally Posted by Casual Observer
...All my corporate experience with unions made me feel like I was being extorted--it was simply criminal. The most egregious example was having to pay Teamsters thugs to move equipment from our vans to our booth at an industry convention in MA. $796 to move one box on a cart...and we couldn't reclaim our equipment until we'd paid the extortion fee--they held it hostage. I can only imagine how much the other, larger vendors were robbed.
A few years ago my husband showed me an article about the unions at the Philadelphia Airport. The title of the article was, "How Many People Does It Take To Change A Lightbulb At The Philadelphia Airport?" This is the honest truth. Because of all the stupid union work rules, it took five people to change a lightbulb at the Philadelphia Airport.
Re: Teamsters, SEIU Decide to Bolt From AFL-CIO
Unions have been in decline for a half century now. Why? Because most of the practical goals that unions set out to achieve have not only been accomplished but are often codefied into the law books. We've come a long way from 18 hour workdays, lack of child labor laws and unsafe sweatshop conditions.
Re: Teamsters, SEIU Decide to Bolt From AFL-CIO
Those who dismiss labor's influence in the political process do so at their peril. Labor has a key ingredient for politial action--footsoldiers in the run up to election day.
A labor union can donate services and volunteers for phone banks and get out the vote drives. Any political contest keys on these efforts and organized labor is a key factor in some close elections.
They also have muscle in political donations extorted from members. That is what the Teamsters and other unions are honked off about. Dues are going to politicians and not to organizing activities to stanch the declining memebership. The statistics dismisses all govt union employees by quoting only the share of private sector jobs--bad mistake.
Re: Teamsters, SEIU Decide to Bolt From AFL-CIO
Another union jumping ship on the AFL-CIO. At least they stated a specific reason ... wanting stronger efforts made against the non-union competition of WalMart and FedEx !
Re: Teamsters, SEIU Decide to Bolt From AFL-CIO
FedEx will never go union...their pilots have it bad enough as it is. They broke their last strike almost as badly as Caterpillar did in the late 90s with the UAW.