Dole Extends Olive Branch to AFL-CIO Leaders : Labor Secretary’s Tone Far Different From Reagan Era

Secretary of Labor Elizabeth Hanford Dole launched President Bush’s “kinder, gentler” era with America’s unions Tuesday by telling the AFL-CIO executive council here that she has “great respect both individually and collectively” for them and that she will run a “people’s department.”

AFL-CIO President Lane Kirkland referred to Dole as “a personal friend,” with whom he hoped labor could pursue some common objectives. “I think her motives are sound, her objectives are laudable. I think she wants to be a good Secretary of Labor.”

The tone of the first meeting between the leaders of the labor federation and Dole contrasted sharply with the first such session of the Reagan presidency, when Labor Secretary Raymond Donovan and the union leaders clashed publicly over the President’s economic plans.

Kirkland acknowledged that he was “certain” there will be some areas of disagreement. But he did not offer any specifics, and Dole scrupulously avoided responding to questions to any controversial topic in a news conference.

In particular, she would not comment on the current labor dispute at Eastern Airlines. Monday, the AFL-CIO executive council called on Bush to convene a Presidential Emergency Board that would review the situation and make recommendations toward a settlement.

There were indications Tuesday that on at least one key issue--an increased minimum wage, where there are long-time differences between labor and Bush, that there may be a compromise on the horizon. Dole reiterated Bush’s position favoring a so-called Youth Opportunity Wage, as an accompaniment to an increased minimum wage.

The labor movement has traditionally opposed such a device as a “sub-minimum” wage, which would tend to cause employers to get rid of older workers so they could hire teen-agers for less money.

But on Tuesday Kirkland did not denounce the concept as he has in the past. He simply said he favored pending Democratic legislation to raise the minimum wage to $4.65 an hour over three years, up from the current level of $3.35 an hour.

Knowledgeable sources in the AFL-CIO and the House of Representatives said that labor could be amenable to a “training wage” that would be limited to first-time workers for a relatively short period of time, perhaps 60 days.

Dole told the executive council and a news conference that “we must . . . ensure that the American workplace is as safe and secure as we can make it.” She added, “We need to begin focusing now on prevention rather than just correcting past mistakes.”

Dole praised the idea of joint union-management safety committees and raised the possibility of using more criminal sanctions against employers who violate the Occupational Safety and Health Act. However, Dole said she did not favor amending the law as some labor leaders would like to do, and she indicated that it might be a while before a new head of OSHA is chosen.

Kirkland raised a cautionary note on the Bush Administration’s attitude about workplace safety. “It’s all very fine to favor . . . the protection of the health and safety of workers on the job. But if that is not accompanied by an adequate inspection service and the rigorous enforcement of the laws, then it is lip service and little more.”

One “sticky area” for Dole in the meeting was the Administration’s plan to lift the longstanding ban on industrial homework in various industries, according to Gerald McEntee, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

The AFL-CIO opposes lifting the ban on the grounds that it is easy for companies to exploit employees who work at home. The AFL-CIO executive council noted in a resolution Monday that an internal Labor Department memo raised serious questions about the department’s ability “to effectively oversee and monitor industrial homework activities.”

Dole said, in response to questions, that the department would hold more hearings on the issue, including one in Los Angeles in late March.

Dole’s meeting with the council was not open to the press. But her aides distributed a copy of her remarks, which included praise for cooperative labor-management programs launched by several unions.