Posted on 07/27/2005 2:52:55 PM PDT by SmithL
Chicago -- John Sweeney Wednesday was re-elected president of the AFL-CIO, surviving a tenacious challenge by a group of dissident unions that said he and the status quo of labor’s leadership had lost their way.
The result came as no surprise, because the most vociferous of Sweeney's critics were not in the convention hall where the AFL-CIO is holding its 50th annual gathering this week. Two major unions quit the federation of 56 unions on Monday, just as the gavel opened the first session.
A handful of other unions boycotted the convention and joined the leaders of the dissidents, Service Employees International Union and the Brotherhood of Teamsters, to form a coalition called Change to Win. Their complaint is that the AFL-CIO has failed to organize sufficient numbers of workers while labor's profile in the American workplace continues to tumble.
Sweeney, 71, after 10 years as president and now with another four-year term, displayed a glass-is-half-full philosophy in an interview with The Chronicle.
"While we are disappointed with the disaffiliation, the unions that are pulling out of the federation are now going to be working on a program for the future and the emphasis will be on organizing and politics, and we'll get on with our work," he said. "There is a tremendous amount to do. We have our challenges and we will face up to them."
He added, "A split in the AFL-CIO in these times is really a tragedy for the members. I think that a unified labor movement would be more effective in addressing workers' issues and mobilizing the workers. We are a significant majority in the AFL-CIO and we'll get on with our business."
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Sweeney re-elected as Captain of the Titanic.
The hissing sound you hear is all the air being let out of the AFL-CIO.
Good. About time.
This is like the '86 Red Sox players voting Buckner the MVP.
"Sweeney re-elected as Captain of the Titanic."
Nearer my God(less obsolete Democratic union) to thee....
People are leaving and unions are splitting away from the AFL-CIO because of this dipsh*t. Oh well, if an idiot wants to play Russian roulette, then you should let him.
And that's a good thing
Sweeney re-elected as Captain of the Titanic.
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Well put. Unions and their mobster leaders, are going down and it is finally gratifying to watch..
Another foaming at the mouth deaniac who "gins up the base"........and racks up a loss on election day.
I LOVE watching the fall of the Union. Took my money, got rich, used it to finance a Party I despise, disparage people I respect. Left me to fight for my own raises (which I prefer but not if I'm forced to pay for representation with dues), protected incompetance from being fired. They have brought this on themselves. May they crash and Burn. I'm happy working for a Non union company and couldn't be lured back for any amount of cash.
Left me to fight for my own raises (which I prefer but not if I'm forced to pay for representation with dues).
***
My father had sorta the same problem...he belonged to a union, but it was the rank and file who fought for the benefits (a really good pension plan and excellent health insurance). The union was lousy at negotiating contracts. If he had his druthers, my Dad would never have had a union. I have never worked under a union, and I've done very well without it.
(Now we know where the RATs get their election strategery.....)
The majority of people that benefit most under a union are those inclined to be lazy, those that are not qualified as it's very difficult to fire them. It's the ideal position for them.
Those that are neither are forced to carry their weight as a result. My union was okay in overall negotiating but supporting workers individually? Difficult to get their attention. The bigger problem was that they bled the company dry, a company with questionable leadership anyway, between the two factors the workers suffered with lost hours and lowered benefits because of the lost hours.
The place I'm with now has competitive pension and insurance, direct access to the boss to negotiate terms, and is able to undercut the competition in prices. If you do not do the job, you are fired. I prefer this environment. In its way it's far more secure than a store slowly dying due to the grip of a union.
The majority of people that benefit most under a union are those inclined to be lazy, those that are not qualified as it's very difficult to fire them. It's the ideal position for them.
***
That has been my beef about unions today -- they do little more than protecting the slackers...or negotiating ridiculous terms that bankrupt the employer.
Yes, unions did good things at one time. They are credited with the 40-hour work week, elimination of child labor and generally a decent wage. But then most of the unions became greedy or incompetent. You had the steelworkers and auto makers earning $20 per hour, and that was 30 or so years ago. Then you had some, like my dad's union, which couldn't negotiate their way out of a paper sack.
My favorite union perk: the steelworkers' 13-week vacation. I had an uncle who worked for the late Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation. He qualified on a couple of occasions for that 13-week vacation. But he could not take the vacation piecemeal throughout the year -- he had to take it all at once. He and his family did not travel, so he spent maybe the first couple of weeks performing the tasks on his "honey-do" list. But when those jobs were completed, he had maybe another 10 or 11 weeks of vacation to go. He wound up being bored out of his skull...he couldn't wait to go back to work. And the company, during those 13-week stints, had to essentially pay him not to work. Multiply that by the number of workers qualified to receive that vacation and how many take that vacation at any given time period, and already, you have a rather good idea of why J&L and other steelmakers are no longer in business.
Generally speaking, in most of the places I have worked, if I did my job, I have always had a decent wage, a good pension plan (that I can direct myself, instead of relying on my employer or (yuk) Social Security), reasonably good health insurance, and more than enough vacation. But if I screwed up, I was fired. Seems to me that it is a more than fair relationship any employer. What else can a union really do for me? Nothing. But they can, and have, done considerable harm.
Will he go over to the end zone at Giants stadium to pay his respects to Jimmy?
My union was okay in overall negotiating but supporting workers individually?
***
Happened in my Dad's union -- one of his co-workers had a massive heart attack and was denied disability, even though his doctors said if he went back to work, he'd be dead in a few months, maybe even weeks. Did the union fight for him? Nope.
***
The other thing you mentioned...about direct negotiation with the boss...that is also a good thing. I work for a small outfit, but if I needed, say, a day off to do something, I can ask and receive. I don't have to go through a union.
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