AFL-CIO hopes to mend fences with dissenters
Mon Aug 22, 2005 5:29 PM ET
By Alonso Soto
CHICAGO (Reuters) – The United States’ largest union federation is struggling to cope with last month’s revolt by 4.6 million members and is willing to mend fences with the dissenters, the head of the AFL-CIO said on Monday.
“We have put aside our anger and disappointment and we are doing everything in our power to get back together,” said John Sweeney, president of the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations in a telephone interview with Reuters.
“This not the time to be divided,” he said.
The Service Employees International Union and International Brotherhood of Teamsters withdrew from the AFL-CIO at its convention last month, siphoning away millions of members and their dues from the 13-million-member federation. Shortly after the convention, they were joined by the United Food and Commercial Workers union.
The dissenters complained about declining union membership, too much money spent on political campaigning, and a lack of resources devoted to organizing workers.
The departure of its three largest member unions took a heavy financial toll on the AFL-CIO, which has to cope with the loss of more than $20 million in annual membership dues, Sweeney said. The federation’s budget is some $125 million.
“We have had a reduction in staff and we have had to tighten our belts in some of the different programs,” Sweeney said, adding union leaders will meet in two weeks’ time to discuss how to deal with the financial loss.
UFCW CONCILIATORY
The head of the 1.4-million-member United Food and Commercial Workers union was conciliatory, saying reunification with the AFL-CIO was a possibility.
“I hope that some day we can come back,” union president Joe Hansen said at a news conference. “I think the only way that this can happen is for the two sides to continue to talk — and I think that will happen. But I don’t think it will be immediate.”
Sweeney was in Chicago to attend a gathering of the Union Network International, international union leaders who mostly represent service industry workers.
The stated goal of the Union Network International’s (UNI) annual convention is to pursue a global strategy against multinational companies like Wal-Mart . UNI has 900 affiliated unions representing 15.5 million members.
Among those attending are SEIU president Andy Stern, who led the split from the AFL-CIO, and Hansen, who is president of the five-year-old UNI.
Sweeney said he will leave the convention after an address on Monday.
“We will be working together at the UNI conference,” Sweeney said, referring to himself and the dissenting unions. “Every single union, whether in the AFL-CIO or outside, should be heavily focused on organizing.”
A month ago, AFL-CIO delegates voted to double spending on organizing new members to $22.5 million and push affiliate unions to allocate 30 percent of their annual budgets to such efforts.
© Reuters 2005.
Follow
