SEIU leadership OK’d to bolt from AFL-CIO

Terence Chea

Monday, June 13, 2005 | 9:24 a.m.

SAN FRANCISCO -- The board of the nation's largest labor union on Saturday gave its leadership the authority to break away from the AFL-CIO, citing a "fundamental and apparently irreconcilable disagreement" over how to rebuild the ailing labor movement.

Meeting in San Francisco, the executive board of the 1.8 million-member Service Employees International Union authorized its executive committee to decide if and when to "disaffiliate" from the AFL-CIO, though no decision has been made about whether SEIU will leave the federation, said spokesman Ben Boyd.

The board said it acted after executive boards of local unions representing 70 percent of SEIU membership adopted resolutions authorizing disaffiliation from the AFL-CIO, the national federation of more than 50 unions formed five decades at the height of organized labor's power.

"The union movement must focus on uniting with the 9 out of 10 workers who have no union," the board said in a statement. "We cannot help workers make major advances in each industry as long as the AFL-CIO structure and rules condone and reward union strategies that divide workers' strength in each industry."

AFL-CIO officials could be reached for comment on Saturday.

The SEIU board's move comes as labor leaders debate how to reform the labor movement and stem a steep decline in union membership. While more than 30 percent of American workers belonged to unions 50 years ago, only about 12 percent are union members today.

Labor leaders blame a variety of factors -- trade agreements, poor enforcement of labor laws, Republican tax policies and the shift away from an industrial-based economy.

SEIU leaders have threatened to leave the AFL-CIO unless the federation commits to a dramatic reorganization. The SEIU wants the AFL-CIO to cut its budget by more than 50 percent and use the savings to boost organizing by member unions.

"We fundamentally think the AFL should devote more time, energy and resources to organizing," Boyd said Saturday. "But it's not just about AFL resources. It's about structural reforms and how you achieve those growth goals."

AFL-CIO President Sweeney, who faces a tough re-election bid this summer, has said he's done plenty to increase membership over the past ten years, and has pledged to do more.

During a speech Monday in St. Louis, Sweeney said he supports restructuring the AFL-CIO to build more powerful state and local labor movements, while creating a permanent way to mobilize members to organize, carry out political activities and back up contract campaigns and strikes.