CHICAGO, July 28 - John J. Sweeney, the president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., has long been known as a steady-as-you-go consensus builder, but this week, when two giant unions bolted the labor federation, he got his Irish up.þþMr. Sweeney accused his onetime protégé, Andrew L. Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union that Mr. Sweeney once headed, of trying to stage a ÿpower grab.ÿ He said Mr. Stern, whose union quit the federation on Monday, had insulted most other unions by asserting that his small grouping of unions was all about growth, while the A.F.L.-C.I.O. was not.þþOrganized labor was ÿmoving in a very negative way,ÿ Mr. Sweeney said, because the service employees union under Mr. Stern was raiding members of another union in California, a move that might set off a civil war of raids and counter-raids.þþIn an interview minutes after the labor federation's 50th anniversary convention ended on Thursday, Mr. Sweeney was burning with a quiet anger.þþÿSome of our good brothers were trying to make a power grab, and I think that it failed,ÿ he said. ÿThey didn't have the support of the majority, so they picked up their marbles and they left.ÿþþNow, Mr. Sweeney says he has to pick up the mess left by Mr. Stern's departure. With the service employees and the Teamsters having quit the federation, and the United Food and Commercial Workers expected to do likewise on Friday, the A.F.L.-C.I.O. will lose about 4 million of its 13 million members. In addition, it will lose about $25 million a year in dues payments - about one-fifth of its budget - which will hurt in areas like political operations and the ability of city central labor councils to carry out their operations.þþÿWe're angry, we're disappointed, we're frustrated,ÿ Mr. Sweeney said. ÿThe spirit coming out of the convention is we have to do more, we have to work harder to build a strong labor movement.ÿþþMr. Sweeney said Mr. Stern had indicated that the 1.8-million-member service employees union would not leave the federation if he agreed to retire. Mr. Sweeney said Mr. Stern and a few other union leaders ÿwere looking to dictate who my successor was.ÿ þþMr. Sweeney, 71, refused to step aside. Instead, he was re-elected, unopposed, on Wednesday to a new four-year term. He has served as federation president since 1995. þþMr. Sweeney said he could never get a good explanation from Mr. Stern about why he was quitting the federation. Mr. Sweeney's aides attribute the move to Mr. Stern's ambition and a desire to create a new labor group that he could control, that was sexier and less bureaucratic than the often unwieldy A.F.L.-C.I.O., a federation of 54 unions.þþMr. Stern said the federation had failed to halt labor's decline and was not structured to do so.þþLast weekend, Mr. Sweeney said, he engaged in intense negotiations with the dissident unions to try to persuade them to remain. þþHe said the talks were making some progress over the dissidents' demand to rebate half the federation's budget to individual unions to enable them to organize more. (ÿThat would have ripped out the guts of the federation,ÿ Mr. Sweeney said.) But he said the negotiations ultimately deadlocked, and he suggested that some dissidents were not bargaining in good faith.þþÿWith some of the unions, we had really narrowed the gap between our differences,ÿ Mr. Sweeney said, ÿand it's fair say to say that we were very close. But I think some of the affiliates had already made up their minds to leave, even while they were participating in the negotiations.ÿþþIn a telephone interview, Mr. Stern said the schism resulted from ÿa very big difference in philosophy about what kind of organization we are trying to create.ÿ þþThe main shortcoming of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., he said, is that it is a voluntary, consensus-based organization that cannot require unions to organize more workers. The dissidents will jointly set requirements on how many workers each union must organize, Mr. Stern said.þþIn an uncharacteristic swipe at other unions, Mr. Sweeney said it was disingenuous for the Teamsters and the food and commercial workers to portray themselves as vigorous organizing unions. Most of the Teamsters' unionization successes in recent years, he said, were spearheaded by veteran A.F.L.-C.I.O. organizers lent to the Teamsters.þþÿThey're going to have to go a long way before they see growth if they continue doing things the way they have in the past,ÿ Mr. Sweeney said. þþHe did praise the service employees union for its hugely successful organizing - it has grown to 1.8 million members, from 1.1 million in 1995.þþResponding to Mr. Sweeney's criticisms of those unions, Mr. Stern said: ÿWe are really fortunate that we have two unions that want to change. We do not want to hold a trial of what happened in the past. We're trying to build a better future.ÿþþMr. Sweeney acknowledged that as a result of pressures from the dissidents, the federation might be in a better position to grow. It has created industry coordinating committees to map organizing strategies to try to unionize large companies and significant fractions of various industries. It has revamped its political operations so that they are active 12 months a year, instead of every second year, just before election time.þþIn addition, Mr. Sweeney has again read the riot act to unions, saying they must devote more money and people to organizing, and this time he thinks union leaders are listening. þþÿI do think the federation is going to be better because of the changes that have been made,ÿ Mr. Sweeney said. ÿThis really has encouraged people to be more committed.ÿþþWhile acknowledging that belt-tightening will be necessary, Mr. Sweeney said the federation would remain as vigorous as ever in politics and lobbying. Referring to the Central American Free Trade Agreement, which the House narrowly approved early Thursday, despite fierce labor opposition, he said, ÿWe'll continue to have to fight Caftas and on issues like privatizing Social Security. The anti-worker, anti-union position of this administration gets worse and worse every day.ÿþþHe acknowledged that corporate America must enjoy watching unions gouging each other's eyes out. þþÿEmployers are gloating about this,ÿ Mr. Sweeney said.þþ
Source: NY Times
