The Year in Preview

Organized labor enters 1998 planning to use its growing political muscle to hold on to Democratic seats in November’s congressional elections. In California, labor activists will try to put a Democrat in the governor’s mansion, maintain Democratic majorities in the Legislature and defeat a ballot initiative aimed for June that would require unions to receive written permission from members--every year--before they can spend dues on political causes. Top union leaders, meanwhile, nervously await further revelations from continuing investigations into a broad campaign finance conspiracy tied to Ron Carey, currently on leave as president of the Teamsters union. Labor contracts for U.S. postal workers, freight haulers and the entertainment industry also come up for negotiations in ’98.