AFL-CIO chief details agenda for LV meeting

Christina Almeida

Friday, Feb. 25, 2005 | 11:15 a.m.

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said he'll study slashing member contributions by as much as half so that local unions would have more money to boost recruitment and reverse years of shrinking membership.

"We haven't grown enough," said Sweeney, who is seeking re-election as chief of the 60-union organization. He said Thursday that rebates to free tens of millions of dollars for organizing "have to be seriously addressed."

The Executive Council of the AFL-CIO meets in Las Vegas next week against a backdrop of open dissension as a faction within the powerful labor movement pushes for change to reverse membership declines and boost the group's political and economic power.

The meeting will include wide-ranging discussions on job losses, health care, minimum wage as well as labor's high-profile fights with corporate giant, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., and against privatizing Social Security.

"We'll be pushing ideas for change that grow out of this discussion and debate," Sweeney said during a Thursday conference call with reporters. "The bottom line is how we can make a real difference in the lives of working families."

Sweeney promised a "major escalation" in labor's political activities as part of a bid to help Democrats win the presidency in 2008.

"We have a detailed plan to get there and we bring a lot of assets to this effort from our 2004 political effort, which was our biggest and most aggressive in history even though we didn't win the White House," Sweeney said.

He said he was considering as much as a 50 percent rebate to member unions, changing the per capita funding stream for those bodies to the national AFL-CIO.

"Fifty percent has to be taken seriously in our discussions, and it has to be taken into the entire picture," he said.

Sweeney's leadership and commitment to reform have been questioned by some within labor, but he reiterated his support for change Thursday.

"The discussion that is going on inside the labor movement is really inspiring and really important," Sweeney said. "There are a lot of good ideas, and they are really impressive in their commitment to a very active, strong and united labor movement."

Two unions have threatened to break from the AFL-CIO in a dispute over the direction of the labor movement, beset by self-analysis after a massive turnout effort failed to help elect Democrat John Kerry in November.

Unions represent 12.9 percent of the workforce. Union members accounted for 14 percent of the electorate in the presidential election.

Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union, has led the faction threatening to pull away if AFL-CIO leaders ignore his proposals to shake up the labor movement. The proposals include dramatically increasing the AFL-CIO's power over its member unions, giving it the ability to require coordinated bargaining, revoke union charters, prevent and grant mergers and transfer union responsibilities.

Stern, who leads the largest of the unions under the AFL-CIO's umbrella, has expressed frustration with Sweeney's leadership but has said he will not challenge Sweeney at the group's convention in July. Stern is scheduled to attend the Las Vegas meetings.

Stern's aggressive approach has alienated Tom Buffenbarger, president of the International Association of Machinists, who has said his union will leave the AFL-CIO if Stern's plans are adopted.

Stern's plans call for a realignment of unions based on industry sectors. That angers industrial unions, which are trying to expand by pursuing workers in other industries, such as health care.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi are among those expected to address the executive council during its three-day meeting at Bally's Las Vegas hotel and casino.