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Democracy Should Guide Debate Over AFL-CIO Restructuring

Burrus Update #6-05, May 26, 2005

Many APWU officials are active in their local AFL-CIO Central Labor Councils and/or state federations and have been exposed to the disagreements within the labor movement over its future direction. An alliance of four large international unions (SEIU, Teamsters, UNITE-HERE, and the Laborers) has been formed, known as the “Unite to Win” group. Over the past several months this group has issued press releases critical of the AFL-CIO structure and leadership.

Andrew Stern, president of SEIU (Service Employees International Union), has announced that if his vision of restructuring is not adopted at the AFL-CIO convention in July, he will remove his 1.8 million-member organization from the federation. The presidents of the other unions in the Unite to Win alliance have not announced whether they intend to withdraw from the AFL-CIO if they do not prevail.

The sensitive issues under discussion include:

• Whether workers can select the unions that represent their interests or whether the AFL-CIO will divide the workforce into pre-determined sectors. The Unite to Win group has suggested that the total number of unions chartered should be in the 20-to-30 range, with every member assigned to the union selected as representative of his or her sector.
  
  
• Whether the AFL-CIO should be required to initiate a program requiring that as much as 40 percent of an affiliate’s per capita tax be rebated to finance federation-approved organizing programs.

These issues are at the heart of the proposals of the Unite to Win program for change. They are crowded by rhetoric about the decline in union membership and catchy phrases about globalization, health care, Wal-Mart, politics, and other public policy issues that labor has been unable to influence. After repeating the obvious, the leaders of the four unions conclude that their solutions offer the labor movement its only possibility of salvation.

As president of the APWU and a member of the AFL-CIO Executive Council and Executive CommitteeI disagree with the proposals advanced by Unite to Win and support those advanced by President John Sweeney. I encourage all APWU activists to support the union position.

The labor movement is a democracy governed by majority rule. There is no place in a democracy for the threat of disaffiliation if a minority does not prevail. The leaders of SEIU have announced that if they do not prevail in this political contest, they will “take their marbles and go home.”

And make no mistake, this is a political struggle over who ultimately will lead the AFL-CIO. Unite to Win does not have a political majority to achieve its objectives at this time, so its leaders are attempting to influence the debate with threats.

I disagree with the concept of converting the AFL-CIO into a forum for evaluating organizing plans, collecting per capita tax and then rebating a sizable portion of the money to international unions. This proposal is based on the complaint that the AFL-CIO has become bloated with wasteful spending and the rebate program would be a means of redirecting the funds to organizing. My response is: “Why not lower the AFL-CIO per capita tax and let the international unions use the money they keep to apply as they choose, including toward organizing campaigns?”

A reduction in the per capita tax would necessitate a reorganization of AFL-CIO headquarters, a refocusing of its efforts, and a re-establishment of priorities. I personally favor a reduction of the per capita tax and committing 80 percent of the AFL-CIO’s remaining resources to politics: I’d like to see the return of a political majority that favors worker-friendly issues. A portion of this 80-percent allocation could be directed at strengthening central and state labor bodies within the political structure.

I have been unable to achieve a majority consensus on these issues, but I do not threaten the disaffiliation of our union if my ideas are not accepted.

Unfortunately, the debate in the AFL-CIO has become personal and political. The forces that are demanding radical change either have the forces to defeat Sweeney or they do not. Their imperialist attitude that only they have the solutions to complex problems is arrogant and destructive.

APWU sides with democracy and reason and the future viability of the greatest labor movement in the world, the AFL-CIO.

William Burrus
President

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