Osama bin Bush - Big labor says the president is waging a terror war on working families ~ WSJ.

If John Sweeney is right, Osama bin Laden isn't the only one terrorizing ordinary Americans.

It turns out that George W. Bush is also "waging a vicious war on working families." That, at least, is what the AFL-CIO chief told delegates at their convention this week in Las Vegas. Mr. Sweeney was only a warm-up for the Reverend Jesse Jackson, who the next day accused the Administration of "economic terror," declared Attorney General John Ashcroft a "threat to democracy" and called for workers to "go back to the streets."

This union jihad launched in Las Vegas against President Bush comes at a curious political moment. Begin with the four open slots Mr. Bush can fill on the five-member National Labor Relations Board, the body responsible for enforcing federal labor policy. Right now the President has put forth only two names, one of whom happens to be a Democrat and AFL-CIO favorite, Dennis Walsh. But the Walsh nomination is today in limbo, as several GOP Senators are putting "holds" on it in protest of the Democratic leadership's refusal to bring the Eugene Scalia nomination as Labor Department solicitor to the floor.

Majority Leader Tom Daschle is making noises that he'll go ahead with Mr. Walsh's nomination anyway, but Mr. Sweeney's hyperbole is not going to help his case. In normal times, accusing an American President of waging a "vicious war" on workers is politically over the top. But it's fever-swamp-city at a moment when a commander in chief has Americans in Afghanistan risking their lives in a search for a man who really did declare war on the U.S. In Mr. Sweeney's case you might even call it schizophrenic, since in the same speech he accused Mr. Bush of warring on the American people he applauded the "excellent job" Mr. Bush is doing in the war abroad.

The gist of the Sweeney/Jackson Bush-as-al-Qaeda argument is the President's push for fast-track trade authority -- which the House gave him yesterday by a single vote -- and his alleged hostility to the right of workers to organize. Leave aside for a moment that trade creates jobs and lowers the price of goods, two things that help workers. As Mr. Bush's reluctance to shake up a Clintonite NLRB suggests, far from going to battle with organized labor, he has gone far out of his way to accommodate it.

Maybe too far. Take Mr. Walsh. A Clinton holdover, Mr. Walsh was one of those responsible for the NLRB's September decision that nonunion workers could be forced to wear union logos on their uniforms as a condition of their jobs. In a rare case where the NLRB did the right thing -- ruling that the Teamsters were trying to intimidate replacement workers by videotaping them, their cars and their license plates -- Mr. Walsh was the sole dissenter. Mr. Walsh is opposed by the AFL-CIO's archenemy and Bush supporter, the National Right to Work Committee.

The point is that time is on President Bush's side. If the Republicans keep the NLRB nominations bottled up, the Walsh nomination will expire when they go out of session. With two other recess appointments set to expire, President Bush will have the opportunity eventually to fill the board with recess appointments of people who could be far less accommodating to organized labor than those who'd get Senate confirmation.

Perhaps Mr. Sweeney is turning up the rhetoric precisely because he's afraid his own rank-and-file may conclude that they rather like Mr. Bush. About 40% of them did vote for him last year. Liberal political successes in recent elections have depended on mobilizing a large union and black-voter turnout, and fewer voters bother to turn out when they're not afraid.

Jesse and John may feel they have to shout ever louder that Mr. Bush is a war criminal at home the more he's perceived as a success abroad. But somehow we doubt America's workers are that gullible.

Jesse Jackson Calls 'Right-Wing Media' A Government Weapon
By Marc Morano
CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer
December 05, 2001

Las Vegas (CNSNews.com) - The Rev. Jesse Jackson, a liberal activist, told a packed audience at the AFL-CIO convention Tuesday that the government is using the "right wing media" in America as a weapon to destroy the leadership of organized labor.

Jackson said leaks of government information to "right-wing media" outlets such as the Washington Times and FOX News are being used as weapons, the same way that FBI wiretaps and IRS audits are being used as weapons.

He also blasted Attorney General John Ashcroft's detention of suspected terrorists, calling Ashcroft the "suspect" who is "threatening democracy" with his anti-terror offensive.

"Ashcroft is using the FBI as one weapon, the IRS as another weapon and leaks to the right-wing media as another weapon," he declared.

Jackson believes the intent of the media leaks is to "destroy the leadership" of organized labor and distract it from the 2002 elections.

"Suppose a labor leader protests a policy... raise(s) a question about war policy, even for debate -- you are a suspect," Jackson said. "Suppose you then give a donation to a peaceful organization. They then trail your money and then they tap your phone and then IRS and then Washington Times and then FOX... (the) time they spend tying up labor leaders will keep you too busy to fight back in year 2002," he stated.

Jackson's sometimes rambling speech at the 24th Biennial Convention in Las Vegas was enthusiastically received by the delegates.

At one point, Jackson seemed to tie opponents of organized labor to domestic terrorists.

"You know anthrax did not come from a cave in Afghanistan. The same people who blew up the building in Oklahoma City, Ruby Ridge, the terror attack in Atlanta, Georgia, -- those same anti-union forces. Anthrax in the government, anthrax to the media and yet there is a price we pay focusing on domestic internal terror (sic)" he stated.

"They are using bin Laden as an excuse to take away basic workers rights," he added.

Jackson believes that those who say the world changed after September 11th are wrong. He noted that the opponents of organized labor have not changed their positions.

"Those who would trade off American jobs for slave labor abroad still choose slave labor over organized labor."

He compared President George W. Bush's economic stimulus plan to the policies that led to the Great Depression.

"Hoover said give the money to the corporations. He put us in a hole. Roosevelt said give the money to the people. He rode us out. We must choose Roosevelt over Hoover," he remarked.

Jackson also expanded the definition of terrorism, saying, "We must fight terrorism wherever it manifests itself. Denying the worker the right to organize is a form of economic terror."

Yes to immigrants' rights

The 1000-member labor delegation voted on Tuesday to urge the federal government to grant amnesty to all illegal aliens. Resolution 5: A Nation of Immigrants, calls on Congress to "enable undocumented workers from all countries to attain permanent legal U.S. citizen status..." The measure passed unanimously.

"The terrorist acts were not committed by immigrants, they were committed by criminals," said John Wilhelm, general president of the Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees International Union.

Bill Moore, an official with the Minnesota state AFL-CIO, asked, "Why should we be afraid of foreigners? We're all foreigners except for Indians." "You discriminate against one, you discriminate against everybody," Moore told CNSNews.com .

The delegates also passed a separate resolution urging passage of a federal hate crime law and a ban on racial profiling.

Linda Chavez-Thompson, executive vice president of the AFL-CIO, said, "Hate crimes affect all kinds of workers...We refuse to sanction hate."

Who supports Bush?

AFL-CIO president John Sweeney refused to acknowledge exit poll data showing that 40 percent of rank-and-file union members voted for Bush in last year's presidential election.

Asked if it was fair to use union dues to support Democratic candidates, he told CNSNews.com , "I haven't seen any poll that shows 40 percent voted for President Bush. But I have seen the polls that have shown the vote Al Gore got, and if every voter in this country had their vote counted, Al Gore would be president."

Contempt for right-to-work laws

Many participants exhibited contempt for state right-to-work laws, which allow workers the choice of whether to join a union.

Jack Shea, president of the Pennsylvania-based Allegheny County Labor Council, accused the National Right to Work Committee of being "backed by the manufacturing association that wants to make a union-free nation, which means that all workers will be working for a lot less."

Stefan Gleason of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, a nonprofit group that offers legal aid to employees fighting compulsory unionism, fired back, telling CNSNews.com that, "Unlike organized labor, all our support is voluntary. We do not have to have force people to support us -- they (just) do."

Gleason said that as many as 10 million workers nationwide must pay union dues or lose their jobs.

According to Gleason, right-to-work laws make union membership voluntary by stripping the union of the power to fire a worker if that worker refuses to join.

But Charlie Wowkanech, president of the New Jersey state AFL-CIO, called right-to-work laws "a death knell to organized labor."

Wowkanech explained, "Essentially what that means is [they] are going to take you out of business. We can't tolerate that."

Gleason said Wowkanech's comment was revealing.

"What a stunning statement. What a lack of confidence they display. If they do not have the power to force membership, they would be dead," he stated.

Gleason accused organized labor of using compulsory workers' dues to support Democratic candidates. "Eighty percent of the American people oppose
forced unionization," he said.

"The fact that they do not represent rank-and-file workers, that is what is so threatening to them. An organization built on coercion should not be surprised the people aren't with you," he commented.

See Related Story:
'Conservative Conspiracy' Hurting US Workers, Says AFL-CIO President

'Conservative Conspiracy' Hurting US Workers, Says AFL-CIO President
By Marc Morano
CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer
December 04, 2001

Las Vegas (CNSNews.com) - Organized labor's top man says there is a "conservative conspiracy" against America's working men and women.

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, addressing the 24th biennial convention in Las Vegas, also referred to the GOP's "sleaziness," and he called Republicans' economic policies since the Sept. 11 terrorists attacks "sickening."

Sweeney told CNSNews.com, "I think there is a conservative conspiracy going on in the Congress, especially the House of Representatives. We are bailing out the airline industry and bailing out the insurance industry, but we can't provide workers protection?"

The AFL-CIO is the largest organized labor group in the US, representing 13 million workers. The four-day conference is being held at the Paris Casino Hotel.

Enemies of the working man

Sweeney said Republicans are not helping America's labor force "because they are not concerned about workers -- they probably have never been unemployed."

He added, "They don't know the suffering and sacrifice that hundreds of thousands of workers are going through in this troubled time."

During his address to the 1,000 delegates gathered for Monday's opening-night ceremony, Sweeney decried conservatives as the enemies of the working man.

"While our sinking economy cries out for lifelines, conservatives in Congress are competing over ways to shell out tax breaks for big corporations and the wealthy," he said.

"The sleaziness of the Republicans in the House is the shame of the nation," he proclaimed. Sweeney received a nearly 30-second standing ovation from the convention crowd following that remark.

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) addressed the convention live via satellite from Washington. She said the political climate in Washington has shifted in favor of a stronger government.

"There were a lot of politicians who actually built their careers on being anti-government, and too many candidates and public officials chose to beat up on employees and union members, trying to label [them] as somehow outside the American mainstream. Well, that is a lot harder to do now," she said.

"The people who were running towards the Pentagaon and WTC on September 11 -- they were union members," she explained.

Sen. Clinton added, "I almost feel sorry for politicians who make their career out of beating up on government workers and union members. I don't know who they are going to pick on now, although I guess I am still a likely candidate."

She contrasted her husband's economic policies with those of President Bush. "I came from the Clinton school of economics, where you keep building jobs and investing in people," she commented.

GOP should thank bin Laden?

Ron Richardson, executive vice president of the AFL-CIO affiliate here (the Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees International Union), believes that the Republicans should be grateful to Osama bin Laden for enabling their political agenda to succeed.

"Somebody should paint a picture of a couple of these Republican leaders sitting on the knees of Santa Claus saying, 'Thank you for giving us everything we always wanted,' and Santa Claus's face would be that of bin Laden," he told CNSNews.com.

Richardson explained, "There is (sic) some disgustingly insane things going on right now with the Republicans. They are using 9-11 to get everything that they were never able to get any other way. They want to get tax breaks for their richest constituents; they want to be able to take away civil rights. I think it's been reprehensible."

He said that Bush's economic plan will "hurt working people and make the economy worse and harm the country."

Danny Thompson, executive secretary of the Nevada AFL-CIO, referred to the "Bush recession" and how it is "taking a terrible toll on Las Vegas."

Linda Chavez-Thompson, executive vice president of the AFL-CIO, compared the public officials who oppose organized labor's political agenda to the terrorists who attacked America.

"We have not been taken down by the terrorists, nor will we be taken down by those politicians who don't care about working families," she told CNSNews.com.

She added, "We are not going to sit still when the policies of Washington do not address the needs of workers."

Compulsary Unionism

The National Right to Work Committee (NRTW), a non-profit group opposed to mandatory union membership, has accused the AFL-CIO of being a lobbying arm of the Democratic Party.

NRTW's website says, "Compulsory unionism is primarily responsible for the tax-and-spend policies of the U.S. Congress. Under their federally-granted coercive powers, union officials collect some $4.5 billion annually in compulsory dues and funnel much of it into unreported campaign operations to elect and control congressional majorities dedicated to higher taxes and increased government spending."

According to a study by the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington-based government watchdog group, more than 94 percent of organized labors' $83 million dollars in political spending benefited Democratic candidates in the 2000 elections.

Exit polls of the 2000 presidential election showed that 40 percent of union electorate chose George Bush.

Scott Van Bergen of NRTW asked, "Why won't union officials bring their radical political stances more in line with the views of rank-and-file members they claim to represent?"

Amnesty for illegal immigrants?

Another agenda item at this week's convention involves the question of whether the AFL-CIO will affirm the decision by its Executive Council to call on the federal government to grant amnesty for all illegal immigrants and end the ban on hiring illegal immigrants.

According to AFL-CIO official Richardson, "The AFL-CIO is very clear: Amnesty is important, we need to protect the rights of immigrants. Given some of the backlash (since Sept. 11), it is even more important that we continue in that direction."

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