AFL-CIO chief criticizes federal response to Katrina

Jeremiah Marquez

Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2005 | 9:29 a.m.

LOS ANGELES -- AFL-CIO President John Sweeney derided the Bush administration's handling of Hurricane Katrina at a Labor Day rally Monday, saying the government's slow response was a sign of hostility to workers.

Speaking to more than 1,000 cheering teachers, firefighters and nurses at a Los Angeles intersection, Sweeney argued that cuts in government services and taxes had sapped the administration's ability to react to the crisis.

"We really need look no further than the ravaged cities of the Gulf Coast ... to see what can happen when government is underfunded, unprepared and unresponsive," Sweeney said.

Amid public complaints over the pace of relief, President Bush on Monday visited Southern states and vowed a huge effort for hurricane victims. White House officials have said the time for blame will come later and that the federal government had difficulty getting information from local authorities.

In an interview after the event, Sweeney noted that many victims along the Gulf Coast were poor and working class.

"This administration has been very callous," he said. "And the slow reaction to the (hurricane) ... is an indication of their shortsightedness and lack of focus on workers and their families."

The Labor Day rally comes as organized labor struggles with membership declines and division.

In July, three of the AFL-CIO's biggest unions -- the Teamsters, Service Employees International Union and the United Food and Commercial Workers -- left the federation. Critics complained the labor group, made up of more than 50 unions, was spending too much money on political campaigns and not enough on organizing unions.

Sweeney said he was in talks with disaffiliated union leaders.