Concerned that John J. Sweeney's efforts to turn around the labor movement have stalled, a handful of union presidents have persuaded the A.F.L.-C.I.O. to borrow a page from corporate America to help improve labor's fortunes. þþThese union leaders persuaded the A.F.L.-C.I.O. to create a corporate-like executive committee to provide guidance to Mr. Sweeney, the federation's president, and to help line up support among unions for initiatives pushed by the federation.þþThe executive committee will include 17 union presidents and will meet with Mr. Sweeney once a month in Washington to discuss issues, including how to increase organizing and how to respond to antilabor initiatives in Congress.þþSome of the union presidents who pushed to create this committee voiced concern that the labor movement was adrift, was attracting too few new members and was reacting too slowly in a range of areas.þþThe union presidents who proposed this committee were concerned that the main body advising Mr. Sweeney — the 54-member executive council — was too unwieldy and met just twice a year. In a move that the federation did not publicize, the executive council quietly approved formation of the executive committee two weeks ago at the council's winter meeting in Florida.þþBruce Raynor, one of the early advocates of the new committee and president of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees, said: ÿWe thought this committee was needed too help us focus on some of the tough issues we're facing. We're dealing with a declining economy, with a hostile administration and a hostile Congress.ÿþþOne union president said Mr. Sweeney at first hesitated about the proposed committee, fearing it might encroach on his powers, but he soon embraced the idea, seeing that it might help him rally support for his initiatives. For Mr. Sweeney and many labor leaders, one of their biggest frustrations is that only about 10 of the 65 unions in the A.F.L.-C.I.O. have embraced Mr. Sweeney's call to do far more organizing to reverse labor's decline of decades.þþThe new executive committee will include the presidents of the federation's 10 largest unions, including the Teamsters, the American Federation of Teachers and the United Automobile Workers. The presidents of seven smaller unions, to be selected by Mr. Sweeney, will be members. The committee will also include Mr. Sweeney; Richard Trumka, the federation's secretary-treasurer; and Linda Chavez Thompson, its executive vice president.þþÿI've been constantly reviewing for the past seven years how we can best operate,ÿ Mr. Sweeney said in an interview. ÿI decided that we needed more dialogue on some of these major programs and on the restructuring that we're doing.ÿþþSeveral union officials said the new group would essentially be a kitchen cabinet and would give Mr. Sweeney broader advice than he receives from his team of four or five full-time staff members, who some union presidents say have not done enough to build support and consensus for A.F.L.-C.I.O. initiatives.þþSeveral of the union presidents who proposed the new committee — including the presidents of the service employees union, the laborers union and the teachers federation — view it as a way to get the A.F.L.-C.I.O. to focus more on what they say should be its two priorities: politics and organizing. þþJohn Wilhelm, president of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union, said the A.F.L.-C.I.O. was spread too thin and should devote more of its money and energy to organizing. Mr. Wilhelm said he would even consider ideas like eliminating the federation's respected health and safety department to channel more money into organizing. ÿMy view is that if we don't devote the largest possible amount of money to organizing and to political action that relates to organizing, we will go out of business,ÿ he said. ÿAnd if we go out of business, we can't help anybody's health and safety.ÿþþThe labor federation received bad news last month when the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the percentage of workers in unions had fallen to 13.2 percent in 2002, down from 13.4 percent the previous year and 35 percent in the 1950's. The bureau also reported that union membership nationwide dropped by 280,000 last year to 16.1 million, largely because of large layoffs in heavily unionized industries, including steel, airlines and hotels.þþÿThe biggest problems the labor movement faces in terms of responding to the challenges it faces is that it's so divided,ÿ said Richard Hurd, a Cornell University professor of labor relations. ÿThis new executive committee, by including the leaders of the largest unions, could help get everyone working together.ÿþþþ
Source: NY Times
