The Hotline, December 3, 2004, Friday

Copyright 2004 The National Journal Group, Inc.
The Hotline

December 3, 2004 Friday

SECTION: CAMPAIGN 2004

LABOR SHAKEDOWN?
Cornell U Prof. Robert Hurd writes in Detroit News, When
the AFL-CIO exec. council gathered in Washington several weeks
ago to assess the damage in the wake of Bush's re-election, it
was not the organization's pres., John Sweeney, who grabbed the
headlines, but Andy Stern, head of the SEIU.
Stern, who eight years ago succeeded Sweeney at SEIU, chose
this opportunity to "turn up the heat" on his mentor. Arguing
that the future of the labor movement "is in peril" and that the
AFL-CIO is "an antiquated body unprepared to meet the challenges
of the 21st century," Stern and a group of like-minded union
leaders pressed for a "dramatic makeover in labor's structure
and strategic priorities." Their insistence that the AFL-CIO
must be transformed -- or must "get out of the way" -- has
outraged old-time, tradition-bound unionists and has ignited an
"internal feud that threatens to split the movement into warring
factions."
These are difficult times for labor, and not just because
of the election. The union share of the work force has dropped
to 8 percent in the private sector, the "lowest level in 100
years and less than one-fourth of the post-World War II
peak."Industrial unions have suffered under the weight of
globalization, while their counterparts in transportation,
communications and utilities have been weakened by deregulation.
On top of this, labor faces an "inhospitable legal environment
made worse by an antagonistic president and Congress."
Stern and his colleagues in what they're calling the New
Unity Partnership argue that the growing crisis requires an
"aggressive response -- including not just massive reallocation
of resources into recruitment of new members but substantial
restructuring as well." They have proposed collapsing the
60-plus unions into "no more than 20 powerful mega-unions, each
with a clearly defined industry focus." This would allow labor
to "translate growth directly into power within a market," in
contrast to the current arrangement in which unions have
multiple jurisdictions and often compete with each other for new
members(12/3).