HOLLYWOOD, Fla., Feb 26 — Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao ignited a furor today among labor leaders, including the administration's strongest friend in labor, the teamster president James P. Hoffa, when she cited repeated examples of union corruption while addressing the A.F.L.-C.I.O.'s winter meeting. þþMr. Hoffa criticized Secretary Chao and said labor should back a presidential candidate who understands working people, causing many union leaders to say Mr. Hoffa was distancing himself from the president.þþMr. Hoffa complained that the Bush administration was veering further to the right, and one of his top aides said the secretary's remarks were only the latest of several antilabor actions committed by the administration. þþSecretary Chao stunned more than 100 labor leaders when, in a response to a question about greater financial disclosure, she read aloud for several minutes about seven criminal cases involving officials from the machinists' union. She brought to the meeting a dossier detailing union-related crimes and she read from it after Thomas Buffenbarger, the machinists' president, asked her why the Bush administration was proposing far stricter financial disclosure rules for labor unions.þþÿIt seemed like a clear attempt at intimidation,ÿ said Bruce Raynor, president of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees. ÿA lot of people were already feeling angry at the Bush administration, and what she said made things a lot worse.ÿþþAfter Ms. Chao left the meeting, Mr. Hoffa — whom Mr. Bush once invited into the first lady's box during a State of the Union address — joined several others in voicing bitterness with the administration.þþThe meeting was closed to the news media, and Teamster officials said Mr. Hoffa, who was on a plane, was unavailable to expand on his comments. But Mike Mathis, the Teamsters' political director, said Mr. Hoffa was highly critical of the administration today and had grown increasingly exasperated with moves he views as antiworker, including proposing to open the border to Mexican trucks and tax cuts that give more to the rich.þþMr. Mathis said Mr. Hoffa told the labor leaders: ÿWe worked very hard to develop a relationship with this administration and we have. But especially since the election last November we have seen this administration veer to the right and try to move issues that are antilabor.ÿþþMr. Hoffa added, Mr. Mathis said: ÿWe're disappointed frankly that they don't understand labor issues and labor people. The way the secretary presented herself today was proof of that. We think it's important that the labor movement strengthen its resolve as we go into 2004 to elect a president who understands working people.ÿþþMr. Mathis said Mr. Hoffa, whose union represents 1.4 million workers, had not ruled out backing Mr. Bush. But he added: ÿThe fact is Jim is disappointed with the direction of the administration. Bush has veered to the right since the election, and if he veers back on track, that will change things. But if Bush is not going to do that, we're going to try very hard to beat him. If there's a better Democratic candidate then that's who the Teamsters will support.ÿ þþSpeaking about Mr. Hoffa, Morton Bahr, president of the Communications Workers of America, said: ÿHe said that Secretary Chao's remarks just give us more reason to turn this administration out in 2004. That reflects everybody's attitude here.ÿþþAt her own news conference after her speech, Ms. Chao defended the administration's labor record, but acknowledged there were some strains with union leaders.þþÿIt's never easy,ÿ she said. ÿI pride myself on keeping an open door and good communications channels.ÿþþShe added, ÿWe want to work with those who want to work with us.ÿþþMs. Chao said that Mr. Bush's policies were good for American workers, saying that his economic plan would create 1.4 million jobs. þþSeveral labor leaders said they were irritated by what they described as the secretary's confrontational tone. They said they were also upset that she said the economy was too weak to raise the federal minimum wage and declined to say much about an administration study that might reduce the number of workers who qualify for overtime pay. þþJohn J. Sweeney, president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., which represents 13 million union members, said Ms. Chao's remarks were insulting.þþÿI have never seen a secretary of labor who is so antilabor,ÿ Mr. Sweeney said at a news conference. ÿIt's fair to say what we saw from the secretary of labor strengthened our beliefs that this administration is antiworker.ÿþþKathleen Harrington, a labor department spokeswoman, said: ÿShe was not insulting. She was not aggressive. She stood up for what she believed.ÿþþFor months, labor's dismay with the Bush administration has been growing, but at the three-day meeting here, this dismay seemed to explode into bitterness and anger, with the labor federation vowing to do its utmost to defeat Mr. Bush in next year's elections.þþLabor leaders have been angered by many administration actions, including its backing the repeal of a new ergonomics law and its stripping 60,000 airport screeners of the right to join a union.þþMr. Buffenbarger, the machinists' president, said he was taken aback when Ms. Chao, in responding to his question, read details of seven cases of financial malfeasance by officials from his union. þþÿI felt a little appalled that a labor secretary would come to the meeting prepared to attack the labor movement,ÿ he said. ÿShe came prepared with her book of sins. It's like Satan at the gates of hell.ÿþþMr. Buffenbarger pointed out that the union's own audits and internal investigations led to the criminal cases against the machinist officials.þþLabor Department officials acknowledged today that Ms. Chao had a dossier describing crimes committed by officials in many of the 65 unions that are part of the A.F.L.-C.I.O. Department officials said the dossier helped buttress the administration's case to require greater financial disclosure by unions. Under the proposed regulations, unions would have to detail how much money they spend each year on politics, lobbying, organizing and strike benefits and would have to itemize all expenditures above either a $2,000 or $5,000 threshold.þþResponding to labor's criticisms, Ms. Chao said: ÿAs we talk about transparency and corporate malfeasance, organized labor has been in the forefront of asking for transparency. I would think that transparency is an issue they'd want to talk about in their own organizations as well.ÿþþMs. Chao said the tighter regulations would deter malfeasance by union officials, but union leaders said existing disclosure regulations already do that.þþShe said they would impose only a small burden, perhaps requiring only 50 hours for a union to complete.þþMany union leaders view the proposed regulations as retaliatory and say the disclosure requirements will call for tens of thousands of hours of work and perhaps millions of dollars because so many expenditures would have to be tracked and reported.þþÿClearly everyone was chagrined by the secretary's presentation,ÿ said Sandra Feldman, president of the American Federation of Teachers. ÿWe're facing rising health care costs, layoffs, companies going bankrupt, people losing retiree benefits. And it's upsetting that she had this huge book, and that was the main thing she came here with. That's not to say we don't want every union to be open and transparent and clean.ÿ þþ
Source: NY Times
