LaborTalk (March 30, 2005)
LaborTalk (March 30, 2005)
AFL-CIO's 50-Year Organizing Record Under Meany, Kirkland and Sweeney
By Harry Kelber
When the American Federation of Labor (AFL) merged with the Congress ofIndustrial Organizations (CIO) in 1955, the combined organization had 16million members, compared with about 13 million members 50 years later. At that time, roughly one in three workers in the country belonged to atrade union; today, the figure is one in eight, and in the private sector, fewer than one in twelve.The merger, it was expected, would end the fratricidal warfare within the House of Labor and usher in a new era of labor's growth. So what happened? Why the continuing decline of the AFL-CIO in numbers and economic power?
Of course, there were many factors that contributed to the AFL-CIO'sfailure to grow: plant closings, outsourcing of jobs and an aggressive antiunion campaign by employers. But what about the responsibility of the three men who headed the AFL-CIO the past 50 years and failed to reverse the decline? George Meany was elected as the first president of the AFL-CIO at the 1955 founding convention and held that position for 24 years until he become terminally ill in 1979 and had to retire. Meany, the most influential labor leader during two critical decades, was a blunt man who was frank about his views on organizing.
Asked in 1972 why AFL-CIO membership was sinking as a percentage of the work force, Meany responded: "I don't know. I don't care." When a reporter pressed the issue, "Would you prefer to have a larger proportion?", Meany snapped, "Not necessarily. We've done quite well without it. Why should we worry about organizing groups of people who do not appear to want to be organized? If they prefer to have others speak for them and make decisions which affect their lives, that is their right."Meany added: "I used to worry about the size of the membership. I stopped worrying because to me it doesn"t make any difference. The organized fellow is the fellow that counts. This is just human nature."
Unlike the CIO of the late 1930s, Meany showed little interest inorganizing women and minorities. Until his retirement in 1979, there was not a single women and only one or two minority labor leaders on theAFL-CIO's policy-making Executive Council.Lane Kirkland became president at the 1979 convention without having to face an election, at the request of a dying Meany, who had groomed Kirkland as his heir apparent. In the 17 years he ran the AFL-CIO, Kirkland showed little interest in recruiting new members, which, he insisted, was the function of the affiliated unions. His passion was international affairs and he spent most of his energies in building a global labor empire with staffs in four regional institutes that reached out to more than 80 countries on every continent. He was able to maintain his position by manipulating the Executive Council until 1995,when he was forced to retire by a coalition of about a dozen major international union presidents, who had become alarmed at the continuing slide of the labor federation.
When John Sweeney became AFL-CIO president, he made organizing his top priority. He budget 30% of the federation's income for organizing and urged affiliated unions to do the same. He hired scores of young, enthusiastic women and minorities as organizers. He poured more money into the Organizing Institute's training programs. He initiated an educational campaign, "Change to Organize; Organize forChange. " Over a 10-year period, he held numerous conferences, seminars and workshops. Appropriate resolutions were passed at AFL-CIO. conventions.
Despite Sweeney's efforts, the AFL-CIO's percentage of the work force has dropped from 14.5%, when he assumed office, to 12.5%, and less than 8% in the private sector. Many unions see the answer as spending more money on organizing, but that won't do it. For one thing, employers can always outspend the unions.
One problem is that the current "reformers" were in charge during labor'sdecline and want to maintain their "frozen" leadership for the next four years and beyond. Union members cannot afford an ossified leadership.
Another problem is that neither Meany, Kirkland or Sweeney have had a warm relationship with the nation's union members. They operated primarily within a circle of top national leaders. Meany avoided contact with workers who were struggling to organize or were on strike. He even boasted he had never been on a picket line Kirkland was clearly uncomfortable when he had to wear a union windbreaker jacket and baseball cap in his rare appearances at strike rallies. Polls showed that Lane's name recognition within the labor movement was about 3%.
Sweeney never developed an enthusiastic following among union members. He is a boring speaker with a monotonous voice, and has done little to enhance labor's message and public image in the few times he was invited on a TV talk show. What is urgently needed is a few articulate, dynamic leaders who are respected by union members across the board, and who can involve them in the struggle to regain their former strength. Without the participation of an army of union volunteers, the AFL-CIO will never achieve its organizing goals or succeed in reclaiming its long-gone reputation as champion of the nation's working people.
AFL-CIO's 50-Year Organizing Record Under Meany, Kirkland and Sweeney
By Harry Kelber
When the American Federation of Labor (AFL) merged with the Congress ofIndustrial Organizations (CIO) in 1955, the combined organization had 16million members, compared with about 13 million members 50 years later. At that time, roughly one in three workers in the country belonged to atrade union; today, the figure is one in eight, and in the private sector, fewer than one in twelve.The merger, it was expected, would end the fratricidal warfare within the House of Labor and usher in a new era of labor's growth. So what happened? Why the continuing decline of the AFL-CIO in numbers and economic power?
Of course, there were many factors that contributed to the AFL-CIO'sfailure to grow: plant closings, outsourcing of jobs and an aggressive antiunion campaign by employers. But what about the responsibility of the three men who headed the AFL-CIO the past 50 years and failed to reverse the decline? George Meany was elected as the first president of the AFL-CIO at the 1955 founding convention and held that position for 24 years until he become terminally ill in 1979 and had to retire. Meany, the most influential labor leader during two critical decades, was a blunt man who was frank about his views on organizing.
Asked in 1972 why AFL-CIO membership was sinking as a percentage of the work force, Meany responded: "I don't know. I don't care." When a reporter pressed the issue, "Would you prefer to have a larger proportion?", Meany snapped, "Not necessarily. We've done quite well without it. Why should we worry about organizing groups of people who do not appear to want to be organized? If they prefer to have others speak for them and make decisions which affect their lives, that is their right."Meany added: "I used to worry about the size of the membership. I stopped worrying because to me it doesn"t make any difference. The organized fellow is the fellow that counts. This is just human nature."
Unlike the CIO of the late 1930s, Meany showed little interest inorganizing women and minorities. Until his retirement in 1979, there was not a single women and only one or two minority labor leaders on theAFL-CIO's policy-making Executive Council.Lane Kirkland became president at the 1979 convention without having to face an election, at the request of a dying Meany, who had groomed Kirkland as his heir apparent. In the 17 years he ran the AFL-CIO, Kirkland showed little interest in recruiting new members, which, he insisted, was the function of the affiliated unions. His passion was international affairs and he spent most of his energies in building a global labor empire with staffs in four regional institutes that reached out to more than 80 countries on every continent. He was able to maintain his position by manipulating the Executive Council until 1995,when he was forced to retire by a coalition of about a dozen major international union presidents, who had become alarmed at the continuing slide of the labor federation.
When John Sweeney became AFL-CIO president, he made organizing his top priority. He budget 30% of the federation's income for organizing and urged affiliated unions to do the same. He hired scores of young, enthusiastic women and minorities as organizers. He poured more money into the Organizing Institute's training programs. He initiated an educational campaign, "Change to Organize; Organize forChange. " Over a 10-year period, he held numerous conferences, seminars and workshops. Appropriate resolutions were passed at AFL-CIO. conventions.
Despite Sweeney's efforts, the AFL-CIO's percentage of the work force has dropped from 14.5%, when he assumed office, to 12.5%, and less than 8% in the private sector. Many unions see the answer as spending more money on organizing, but that won't do it. For one thing, employers can always outspend the unions.
One problem is that the current "reformers" were in charge during labor'sdecline and want to maintain their "frozen" leadership for the next four years and beyond. Union members cannot afford an ossified leadership.
Another problem is that neither Meany, Kirkland or Sweeney have had a warm relationship with the nation's union members. They operated primarily within a circle of top national leaders. Meany avoided contact with workers who were struggling to organize or were on strike. He even boasted he had never been on a picket line Kirkland was clearly uncomfortable when he had to wear a union windbreaker jacket and baseball cap in his rare appearances at strike rallies. Polls showed that Lane's name recognition within the labor movement was about 3%.
Sweeney never developed an enthusiastic following among union members. He is a boring speaker with a monotonous voice, and has done little to enhance labor's message and public image in the few times he was invited on a TV talk show. What is urgently needed is a few articulate, dynamic leaders who are respected by union members across the board, and who can involve them in the struggle to regain their former strength. Without the participation of an army of union volunteers, the AFL-CIO will never achieve its organizing goals or succeed in reclaiming its long-gone reputation as champion of the nation's working people.
posted by T. Scott Brineman at 4:42 AM
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