Hopes, Stakes Are High as the AFL-CIO Convention Begins

After months of deal-making, sweet-talking and other forms of enthusiastic politicking, the historic AFL-CIO presidential election this week can be said to boil down to this:

A choice between a 67-year-old labor leader of Irish heritage from the Bronx who wants to spur union-organizing campaigns and grass-roots political activism, and a 61-year-old labor leader of Irish heritage from the Bronx who wants to spur union-organizing campaigns and grass-roots political activism.

But there is far more at stake as the AFL-CIO convention opens today in New York, and greater differences between the two presidential candidates, than a quick look suggests. And the issues go far beyond the historic significance of Wednesday’s election, the first openly contested battle for the helm of the American labor federation since 1894.

For the 13 million Americans belonging to the 78 AFL-CIO unions, the convention represents hope for reversing organized labor’s decline over the last few decades. It comes as many of America’s unions are struggling to find ways to recapture their place as an influential force in American life--trying, among other things, to draw more women, minorities and immigrants into their ranks.

Both presidential hopefuls support those efforts and promise to overhaul the way the AFL-CIO does business, particularly in their plans to support organizing, an activity that the federation traditionally left to the individual unions.

“That’s a pretty strong, militant position that the federation is now taking,” said Peter Olney, a labor organizer in Los Angeles. “It’s going to be a big departure.”

Observers say the likelihood of the AFL-CIO’s making a serious break with its relatively centrist past would be particularly strong should the election go to John Sweeney, the younger candidate and the leader in the race.

As president of the Service Employees International Union for the last 15 years, Sweeney has led the fastest-growing labor organization in America and been part of one of its brightest success stories. His insurgent campaign rewrote U.S. labor history this summer when longtime AFL-CIO President Lane Kirkland was driven into a stubbornly resisted retirement.

Sweeney’s union, the biggest in California, is perhaps best known for its militant “Justice for Janitors” organizing campaign directed at immigrant and minority workers in Los Angeles and other big U.S. cities.

But also claiming credentials as a reformer is Tom Donahue, Sweeney’s opponent and onetime mentor. After serving nearly 16 years as the federation’s secretary-treasurer, or second-in-command, Donahue was named interim president Aug. 1, when Kirkland stepped down.

Donahue portrays himself as a leader who pushed change while working within the system, pointing to his role in establishing the AFL-CIO’s Organizing Institute, a school for union activists that Sweeney proposes expanding. “He likes to say my program is a copy of his, but the contrary is the truth,” Donahue said of Sweeney in an interview last week.

At the same time, Donahue claims that his years at the AFL-CIO have given him a better grasp of the complicated issues facing labor and the experience needed to run the organization.

Sweeney backers shoot back that their candidate isn’t tied to the federation’s failed past policies, therefore enabling him to bring about more far-reaching change.

In Wednesday’s voting, each of the AFL-CIO unions will cast as many votes as they have dues-paying members. Inasmuch as the unions that have supported Sweeney have adopted “unit rule” procedures requiring that their votes all be cast for the same candidate, the SEIU president’s camp has for months been claiming that it has close to 60% of the vote locked up, comfortably more than the simple majority needed to win.

Still, Donahue has continued scrambling in recent days to try to score a come-from-behind victory by prying a few unions away from the Sweeney camp, focusing mainly on building trades unions. On Friday, in fact, a Donahue spokesmen said they had won over the United Brotherhood of Carpenters, whose outgoing president had been an early Sweeney backer but whose governing board later backed away from blessing either candidate.

Even without the Carpenters, the Sweeney side would still appear to have 55% of the vote, leaving Donahue with a long way to go to pull off an upset.

Another major battle could emerge over Sweeney’s proposal to create a No. 3 elective post for the federation, carrying the title of executive vice president. The plan is for the job to go to Linda Chavez-Thompson, a Texas sharecropper’s daughter and current international vice president of the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees. She would be the first nonwhite in a top executive role at the AFL-CIO.

For that to happen, however, two-thirds of the delegates must vote to pass the amendment, and Donahue opposes creation of the office as too costly. As of late last week, the Sweeney camp was working on delaying a vote on the issue until after the presidential election, hoping that Donahue backers might support creating the post for Chavez-Thompson if Donahue has already been defeated.

Also on Wednesday’s ballot is the secretary-treasurer’s job. The Donahue camp’s candidate is Barbara Easterling, who has held the position on an interim basis since August, when she succeeded Donahue in the job and became the first woman to rise to that rank in the AFL-CIO. She previously was secretary-treasurer of the Communications Workers of America. Her opponent is Richard Trumka, the fiery president of the United Mine Workers.