Labor rift leaves local unions looking for ways to cooperate

Alana Roberts

Friday, July 29, 2005 | 11 a.m.

Leaders of the Nevada State AFL-CIO are planning to meet early next week to determine how to continue the political and union organizing efforts the group has coordinated -- despite national AFL-CIO rules that bar disaffiliated unions from participating in or supporting state or local AFL-CIO affiliates.

After seven unions joined together under the Change to Win Coalition banner at the national level, the member unions of that group chose to show their dissatisfaction with the AFL-CIO in different ways during the labor umbrella group's convention earlier this week in Chicago.

Two unions, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the Service Employees International Union, chose to quit the federation entirely. Two others, UNITE HERE and the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union choose to boycott the AFL-CIO's convention. Earlier today the UFCW announced it would bolt the AFL-CIO.

All of those maneuverings put local and state AFL-CIO affiliates in a difficult spot, Danny Thompson, executive secretary-treasurer of the Nevada State AFL-CIO, said.

He said the executive board of the Nevada State AFL-CIO will meet next week to discuss the decisions made by the AFL-CIO national leadership in response to the moves by the Change to Win Coalition members. The local unions will also discuss how to continue coordinating their efforts.

"We have had a great relationship on a local level," Thompson said. "All of this that's happening nationally will have a negative impact locally. Those unions that have decided to disaffiliate nationally, their local unions can't affiliate locally."

John Sweeney, who was re-elected as president of the AFL-CIO this week, made it clear that the AFL-CIO would not allow disaffiliated unions to, "pick and choose which parts of the federation they belong to."

In a memo sent Thursday to the officers of state and local AFL-CIO affiliates, Sweeney said although disaffiliated unions can't participate in the state and local AFL-CIO affiliates, those affiliates should continue to collaborate with other groups, "on issues of common concern."

Thompson said starting a new group for the disaffiliated unions is one option local labor leaders have.

"There's nothing in the letter that would preclude me from opening a separate organization, in fact it encourages (it)," Thompson said.

At the convention AFL-CIO leadership voted to increase the per capita tax unions pay per union member by 4 cents to make up for the losses the state and local affiliates will suffer from the defections of the Teamsters and SEIU. That tax will yield about $4 million per year, according to the AFL-CIO.

Five members of the Change to Win Coalition are member unions of the Nevada State AFL-CIO and they make up 78 to 80 percent of the funding and membership of the state federation, Thompson said. The five member unions include the Teamsters, SEIU, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, UNITE HERE, parent of the Culinary Union Local 226, and the Laborers' International Union of North America. Two other Change to Win Coalition members are not in the Nevada State AFL-CIO, the United Farm Workers of America, and the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America.

Thompson further said the Teamsters and SEIU probably represent about 10 percent of the 165,000 members the state federation has. The parent of the state federation's largest union, the Culinary Union Local 226, hasn't disaffiliated nationally. However, the fate of the Change to Win Coalition members that haven't disaffiliated with the AFL-CIO at the national level is uncertain.

Leaders of the Change to Win Coalition unions have said the AFL-CIO doesn't go far enough toward making the changes that are needed to ensure the labor movement remains relevant, including more emphasis on organizing.

A resolution that would have allowed disaffiliated unions to continue participating in and supporting the state and local affiliates did not make it to a vote during the convention.

Change to Win Coalition leaders have said they want to continue supporting the state and local affiliates.

"Our intention and what we have instructed our local unions (is) to keep paying dues," James Hoffa, president of the Teamsters, said earlier this week at a press conference to announce his union's disaffiliation from the AFL-CIO. "We believe these organizations fulfill a vital role. This could be up to 40 percent of their budget."

Thompson said the work of the state and local AFL-CIO affiliates are the backbone of the labor movement.

"I would tell you this, all politics are local," Thompson said. "There's never been a truer statement uttered. All of those U.S. senators didn't get elected in Washington D.C., they got elected where they live. It's the same for everyone."

Leaders of the local unions that are part of the Change to Win Coalition said they support the work the Nevada State AFL-CIO has done on behalf of working people in Nevada.

"The state federation works extremely well," Gary Mauger, secretary-treasurer of the Teamsters Local 14, said. "Danny Thompson does a good job and the labor coalition does extremely well. We don't want to see anything to change along those lines."

D. Taylor, secretary-treasurer of the Culinary Union Local 226, said the local groups will find a way to continue the work that has been done by the state and local affiliates of the AFL-CIO.

"We're going to figure out how we can financially support the kind of work Danny does on the state fed," Taylor said.

He expressed disappointment with the AFL-CIO's decision to not allow the local unions of disaffiliated unions to support the state and local organizations.

"I think the national AFL-CIO would be putting state feds in a horrible position," Taylor said. "It would be like the national AFL-CIO wanting to kill the state feds."