Unions, politics collide: Parties wooing labor after attack

Erin Neff

Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2001 | 10:28 a.m.

Politicians are once again courting organized labor in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks and on the eve of the 2002 election season.

As some 844 delegates met for the 24th biennial AFL-CIO convention at the Paris hotel-casino Monday, politicians bandied about with praise and healing solutions for labor's torn muscle.

And though the union representing 13 million workers took pause to remember 631 members who died Sept. 11, it also saw fit to make good from the tragedy and to rekindle partisan politics.

Nevada AFL-CIO Secretary Treasurer Danny Thompson got in the first barb by referring to the "Bush recession" and terrorist attacks that led to 15,000 layoffs in Las Vegas.

Thompson told delegates about Nevada's politicians who are also police officers, firefighters and waitresses.

"Politicians listen to working people here," Thompson said.

Politicians from Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn to Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., also spoke to the AFL-CIO on Monday.

Reid, the Majority Whip, taped a message for the conventioneers from Washington.

While he thanked workers for their commitments, Reid also took the opportunity to deride the GOP economic stimulus package as "tax cuts for corporations when we need to get Americans back to work."

He also mentioned his personal friendships with Thompson and AFL-CIO President John Sweeney for good measure.

Clinton also spoke to the convention live via satellite from Washington.

"We're still fighting for what should be done for the working people," she said, after calling attention to her "Proudly Made in New York" suit.

The navy blue blazer was also affixed with a silver donkey she didn't mention. But she also called attention to her party's fight, referring at times with a scowl to "The Administration" and House Republicans and their "great big corporation tax giveaways."

"I come from the Clinton School of Economics," she said, noting the economic downturn came on President Bush's watch.

Just prior to Clinton's address, the conventioneers honored the 631 union members who died Sept. 11 by scrolling each person's name and labor representation on giant video screens.

The firefighters' union tally of 343, coupled with a guitarist's memorial song, brought tears to many delegates and led to the evening's most fiery rhetoric from International Association of Fire Fighters President Harold Schaitberger.

"Politicians have been offering us their prayers," Schaitberger said. "They're mourning with us.

"We don't want their homilies," he added. "They've got to do a hell of a lot more than that."

In his keynote address to the convention, Sweeney pointed out what he called hypocritical statements by people such as House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, who called for extended unemployment benefits immediately following Sept. 11, but who now lambastes Democrats for trying to keep workers "comfortably unemployed."

"Workers are repairing the damage, fighting the war and losing their jobs," Sweeney said. "And the sleaziness of the Republicans in the House is the shame of a nation."

Sweeney also mentioned Clark County Commission Chairman Dario Herrera, who "we're electing to Congress," and told delegates they put Democrats into the governor's offices in both New Jersey and Virginia.

Guinn, the opening evening's token Republican, spoke before most of the partisan barbs got under way as Thompson told the crowd, "fighters for working families can come from both parties."

Guinn welcomed the delegates by telling them how he's worked to alleviate red tape to help laid off workers get quicker access to more benefits.

Then, in what sounded like a re-election stump speech, Guinn touted Millennium Scholarships that give any high school graduate in Nevada up to $10,000 to attend the University of Nevada. He also hyped "my senior Rx program" without any mention of the partisan battle with Democrats in Carson City over how to implement it.

Guinn received solid applause, with many delegates standing, after hyping a number of state programs initiated on his watch.

But Clinton drew the biggest laugh when she told delegates anti-government and anti-union politicians are not in vogue anymore.

"I don't know who they're going to pick on now, although I guess I'm still a good candidate," she said.

Before the week is out, delegates will also hear from the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and House Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Miss.