AFL-CIO Chief Wins 4th Term

AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney, the center of a storm in the labor movement, was reelected to a fourth term Wednesday, just days after the defection of two major unions that sought his ouster.

One of those unions -- the Service Employees International Union -- was headed by Sweeney when he was first elected AFL-CIO president in 1995. It joined the Teamsters in leaving the AFL-CIO on Monday.

Sweeney faced no opposition for the four-year term.

The dissident unions said Sweeney, 71, was elected on a platform of growth and change but had done too little to reverse the decades-long decline in union membership.

They also accused him of focusing more on building political clout for the AFL-CIO rather than on organizing efforts to recruit new union members. They said after 10 years in office, it was time for new ideas at the top.

Several labor leaders said the dissident groups had wanted Sweeney to announce that he was stepping down during the annual AFL-CIO convention this week in Chicago -- or to be reelected with the intention of only serving a few months -- and to endorse one of their candidates to succeed him.

Instead, Sweeney took a defiant tone, calling the defections a “grievous insult” that could hurt workers already buffeted by the global economy and anti-union forces in Congress.

Sweeney will head a group that numbered 13 million before the Teamsters and SEIU took about 3.2 million workers with them. More departures are possible; the Teamsters, SEIU and boycotting unions belonged to a seven-member group called the Change to Win Coalition.

In reaction to Sweeney’s reelection, spokespeople for the coalition and the Teamsters issued short statements wishing him and the AFL-CIO well.

“We are moving forward with our plans to strengthen the labor movement,” said Leigh Strope, a Teamsters spokeswoman.