Liberal Lunatic of the Day (5/7/2005) John Sweeney

Liberal Lunacy ^ | 5/7/2005 | Beckwith

[Beckwith]

John Sweeney, president of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), has spent tens of millions of dollars in union dues in a failed ten-year quest to re-take the U.S. House from Republicans.  Sweeney also saw George W. Bush beat his favored Democratic candidates in 2000 and 2004.

Sweeney's policies have failed to halt the drop in union membership and a corresponding decrease in the organization's political clout and is at the center of a conflict that threatens his job as the coalition's president.  It would mark only the second time in its half-century history that the AFL-CIO witnessed a contested election for leader of its 57 unions, which together represent more than 13 million workers in the United States and Canada.

Sweeney was elected president of the AFL-CIO in October 1995, during his fourth term as president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).  At that time, about 16 percent of American workers belonged to a union, and Sweeney promised to hold the post for no longer than 10 years.

As a result of Sweeney's influence, the union movement is more politicized than ever. The AFL-CIO has always been a strong supporter of the Democratic Party, but Sweeney took it to a new level of left-wing activism.  His $35 million effort in 1996 targeting freshman Republican House members for defeat yielded only eight seats for the Democrats.  Democrats won four more in 1998, but still fell short. In the 109th Congress, ten years after Sweeney took over the AFL-CIO, there are 231 House Republicans, one more than was elected on Election Day in 1994.

Sweeney is culpable for the continuing decline of the labor union movement and only 12.5 percent of workers are presently union members.  Sweeney wants to continue pouring money into political campaigns but the other union members and leaders want to put much more resources into the nuts and bolts of organizing, which isn't -- strictly speaking -- political.  But Sweeney is determined to pursue an overtly political agenda, spending millions of dollars on candidates and campaigns and get-out-the-vote efforts for Democratic candidates.

link:  AFL-CIO Boss's Politicking Now Threatens His Job

[Beckwith]

John Sweeney, whose name rarely appears in print without the word "militant" attached to it, marched arm-in-arm with radical activists in protest against the World Trade Organization in Seattle while anarchists around him smashed store windows. He is a card-carrying member of the Democratic Socialists of America (link), the principal US affiliate of the Socialist International.

Sweeney has seen union membership fall 5 percent on his watch, while the number of U.S. workers has risen 10 percent.  He has spent hundreds of millions of dollars in the last ten years advancing his own personal leftist agenda instead of advancing the best interest of the union membership. He has been using union dues to support Democratic campaigns from members who may not be favorable to Democratic candidates or programs.

Sweeney has swung the unions away from their natural purpose of representing worker's rights to pure politics.  Recently, he said, "We must focus sharply on helping unions organize and, second, engaging working people in deeper, broader, ongoing mobilization to win legislative and political advances."

But the biggest complaints from rank-and-file members, even those who are registered Democrats, is that they would rather see the union concentrate on the 'bread and butter' of organizing collective bargaining agreements and get away from this aggressive pursuit of Sweeney's leftist agenda.

Hopefully, the rank-and-file of the AFL-CIO, in their own best interests, will kick Sweeney out of the office he promised to hold for only ten years.

[jocon307]

He IS a stinking commie, thank you for dubbing him "liberal lunatic of the day"

His kind is not long for this world. They are, essentially toast. It's all over but the shouting, but that will go on for a long time.

Thank godness I'm Irish (as is Mr. Sweeney) and I'm used to it.