Chicago Tribune, May 13, 2005, Friday

Copyright 2005 Chicago Tribune Company
Chicago Tribune

May 13, 2005 Friday
Chicago Final Edition

SECTION: BUSINESS ; ZONE C; Pg. 1

HEADLINE: Union discord heads to Chicago;
Harsh words fly as AFL-CIO's convention nears

BYLINE: By Stephen Franklin, Tribune staff reporter.

BODY:
With their convention in Chicago just over two months away, the nation's major unions are caught up in an unprecedented spiral of anger and unbrotherly love.
"My gut feeling is that we are headed for difficult times and hopefully we'll be able to pull all of the pieces together," said Laborers union President Terence O'Sullivan.
Feeding the unease is a spirited drive by a handful of unions, who want sweeping reforms, saying this is a do or die moment for labor as its ranks have shrunk to 12.5 percent of the workforce, a modern day low.
Tensions have spilled over onto the re-election bid by AFL-CIO President John Sweeney. Although no one has stepped forward to run against him, there are indications that the dissident unions may try to dislodge him.
As a result, unions have lined up on either side of the 71-year-old leader, who won his job 10 years ago by leading a historic coup in the name of reform. Sweeney is known as soft-spoken and inclined to avoid public conflict, but he has added his voice to the accusations.
In a speech this week to a Machinists union meeting Sweeney talked about the "selfish and destructive" voices that are "tearing at the fabric of our movement."
If the rhetoric continues to escalate, one of Sweeney's close advisers said, Sweeney would not back down. "It will be very ugly. It will get nastier," he predicted.
The tough talk gained a new edge this week at a Teamsters union conference in Las Vegas, where Teamsters President James P. Hoffa and several other dissident union presidents spelled out their complaints about other unions--and Sweeney.
They complained that too few unions realize how drastic the problem is, that too many unions compete against each other for members, and that Sweeney has not energized them to find the solutions.
Unions rarely launder their problems in public, fearful it will only help their foes. But Hoffa ripped into the Machinists union, describing it as one of several "bottom feeding unions," which has tried to steal away his union's members with "lower, sweetheart contracts."
Machinists union spokesman Richard Sloan promptly shot back, saying Hoffa and his allies are not interested in reform, but rather in control over the AFL-CIO.
"They want to dictate to the rest of the labor movement," said Sloan, whose union backs Sweeney.
Fights between unions over new members also have spilled into public view.
For example, Unite Here recently filed charges in federal court and within the AFL-CIO against the Communications Workers of America, claiming that the CWA violated a promise not to organize casino workers. Unite Here represents the majority of unionized casino workers.
The CWA's withdrawal of $50 million in the last month from the New York-based Amalgamated Bank quickly drew the attention of union officials who attributed it to the bad blood between the two unions. Amalgamated Bank in New York City is wholly owned by Unite Here.
Asked about the withdrawal, CWA officials would only say it was an investment decision.
The dissidents belong to five unions--the Teamsters, the Laborers, United Food and Commercial Workers Union, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and Unite Here, who say they account for 35 percent of the AFL-CIO's nearly 13 million members.
So far, John Wilhelm, the head of the hospitality division for Unite Here, is considered the most likely candidate to run against Sweeney.
Wilhelm, who led the hotel workers union before its merger with Unite, will only run, union insiders said, if the dissidents seem likely to oust Sweeney. Currently, they are said not to have the votes to do so. But that situation could change, they said.
Nor is it clear whether SEIU President Andy Stern will live up to his threat to pull his 1.8 million-member union out of the AFL-CIO if broad reforms are not enacted.
In a gesture clearly aimed at Stern and the other dissidents, Sweeney last month announced a series of funding and organizational changes at the AFL-CIO. But they did not quiet the dissent.
"So far, the Sweeney administration has offered the rhetoric of change, but not the substance of change," Wilhelm said this week.
The real question, suggested Cornell University labor expert Rick Hurd, is not what happens before the delegates gather in Chicago. It is what happens after, he said. "I'm not sure what can be done before July. But somebody has to pull it together afterward."
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Agenda's simmering issues
Convention: Four-day gathering beginning July 25 marks the AFL-CIO's first Chicago convention.
Voting: 2,500 delegates are expected to vote on changes involving both leadership and policies of the AFL-CIO, the 50-year-old umbrella organization for the nation's major unions.
Major issues: How much power the AFL-CIO should have over its members, whether smaller unions should be required to merge, and how much funding unions and the AFL-CIO should put into politics and organizing.
sfranklin@tribune.com

GRAPHIC: PHOTO: John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO, spoke at a March rally. Dissidents may challenge him in his re-election bid. Bloomberg News file photo.

PHOTO: James P. Hoffa, president of the Teamsters union, said the Machinists union is trying to steal members.
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