Kirkland Foe Calls Unions ‘Irrelevant’

The leader of the coalition trying to oust AFL-CIO President Lane Kirkland warned Monday that unions had become “irrelevant” to the lives of most American workers.

“The problem with the American labor movement, the problem with unions, is that we are irrelevant to the vast majority of unorganized workers in our country,” John J. Sweeney, president of the 1.1-million-member Service Employees International Union, told delegates to an SEIU legislative conference. He said he had “deep suspicions” that unions also were becoming irrelevant to many current union members.

Sweeney, 60, leads a coalition of 11 major unions seeking to block Kirkland’s reelection to a ninth, two-year term at the AFL-CIO convention in October. The leaders of the unions argue that Kirkland, 73, must be replaced if the labor federation is to deal with the challenges facing organized labor today. Last week, five more unions joined the anti-Kirkland coalition, and Sweeney said Monday that another four would join this week, giving Kirkland’s opponents nearly 60% of the votes in October.

In his first public statement since the fight over Kirkland’s leadership spilled out into the open earlier this year, Sweeney used his speech to spell out some of the changes Kirkland’s opponents want:

* More spending on organizing.

* Financial support for Democrats to be conditioned on their support for labor’s interests.

* Greater visibility and power within the AFL-CIO for women and minorities.

Sweeney insisted that the effort to force Kirkland to retire was not part of a battle over personalities. “It’s about the future of the labor movement,” he said.

Sweeney said the coalition was still hopeful Kirkland would step down and allow AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Thomas J. Donahue to be drafted for the presidency. Donahue, 66, is a favorite of the union insurgents as well as other union leaders supporting Kirkland, but he has refused to oppose Kirkland for the AFL-CIO’s top job and has said he will retire in October.

Should Kirkland refuse to step down, however, Sweeney said Kirkland’s opponents were prepared to take him on at the convention and beat him. “That’s not a threat, that’s a promise, and John Sweeney never breaks a promise,” said Sweeney, a likely candidate to oppose Kirkland.