What are the goals of the AFL-CIO today? Our main goal is to reinvigorate the U.S. labor movement. For the longest time, the labor movement has been on a decline, mainly due to a lack of organizing and rank-and-file mobilization. We realized that members were not very involved in their unions during the 1996 presidential election, when it was difficult and often impossible to reach them. Many unions do make great efforts to mobilize the grassroots, so what the AFL-CIO did was bring all of those efforts together to mobilize voters. In this process, we found that many workers had lost respect for their unions, and that our own members were wait- ing for somebody else to do something about their problems. We found that most unions had a very small budget for organizing new members, and that they dedicated most of their resources to servicing current ones. We also found that our unions were often fighting each other instead of cooperating with each other, and that workers' loyalty toward their unions had seriously dete- riorated. We decided to change this state of affairs. We realized that the nature and the seriousness of these problems called not for moderate change, but for dras- tic change. Our goal of improving the working and living stan- dards of all workers overlaps with the goals of many other groups in society which do not define themselves by the workplace. We are making great progress in building coalitions with neighborhood organizations, community groups, civil rights organizations such as the NAACP, the League of United Latin American Citizens, National Council of La Raza, and with women's rights organizations. We are trying to show the country that we are fighting for working people- union and non-union alike. What are the major challenges that face the AFL-CIO and the labor movement as a whole? Our major challenge is to confront downsizing, the part-timing of the workforce, and the sub-standard wages and working conditions of large sectors of the working population. More and more jobs are being lost to the downsizing that corporate America is implement- ing. The shift from full-time to part-time work is elim- inating the health insurance and pension benefits of many workers. Large sectors of the population work for a minimum wage which, even with the increase to $5.50 scheduled for September, cannot sustain a decent standard of living. Large numbers of workers lack NACIA REPORT ON THE AMERICAS 0 0 0 52VOICES ON THE LEFT health insurance benefits or a pension plan, and the mis- treatment and lack of respect for the basic rights of workers is becoming more and more widespread in U.S. workplaces. Meanwhile, CEOs are making lots of money and con- tinue pressuring to lower wages and reduce workers' benefits. Our challenge is to get union leaders to stop thinking just about what they can do for union mem- bers. If we do not have a stronger and bigger base, we are not going to be able to effectively counter the poli- cies proposed by politicians like Newt Gingrich in Congress who, from powerful positions in govern- In the st ment, are advancing the corporate agenda and who clearly hate workers workers ( and unions. There are key statistics that illus- campaigr trate what working people are going formed a through in this country. During the last 15 years, workers' productivity 80 organiz 4 rose by 24%, corporate profits increased by 145%, and CEOs' pay can bring t rose by 499%. During the same together o period, workers' wages decreased by 12%. The Chairman of the Federal today, we Reserve Board, Alan Greenspan, has recently made a statement about how them to well the economy is doing. He said that profits were increasing, that severa stock market prices were soaring, tome and that the reason for this was that workers were afraid of losing their jobs. This statement raises serious concerns on our part, because businesses' success is being shouldered by working people who are receiving no benefits from this boost in companies' profits. More media attention should be directed to the huge gap that exists between what workers earn and what CEOs earn, and the general public should be made aware of the fact that corporations keep improving their profit margins without sharing the wealth with their workers. What is the level of participation of workers in their unions today, and what mechanisms is the AFL-CIO using to promote their involvement? Greater grassroots mobilization on the part of the AFL-CIO started with the Labor 96 conference, which involved 300 union workers and staff. These 300 people dedicated themselves to promoting union workers' par- ticipation in the 1996 elections. We ran a strong media campaign and most of all we encouraged people to vote, but we of course did not tell them who to vote for. Our campaign focused on the issues that affected work- r 1, a h Ir ing people, and we asked our members to re-elect their congressional representative if he or she had shown a voting record that was favorable to workers. We are also training union members and educators to talk about economic policy issues. We feel that we do not give members all the credit they deserve for their understanding of the economic factors that impact their lives, but we also want to give them the arguments that are needed to analyze and more effectively confront the economic policies that affect them. We also want to give them the tools to sharpen their own arguments during negotiations. awberry Therefore, training in economic pol- icy issues is a major step that the rganizing AFL-CIO is taking. We are also holding organizing con- we have ferences around the country to train coalition of union workers to organize other workers. We are holding 16 such tions. If we conferences this year. Generally only union officials and staff would attend ese groups these conferences, but now we are "1one issue opening them to anybody who wants to attend. In New York for example, can bring only 500 people out of the 1,200 attendees were the people who we ether on count on all of the time; the other 700 were members of the rank and issues file, shop stewards and union offi- rrow. cials who were new to this type of activity. We are also developing new ways of organizing so as to broaden and strengthen our base, and to obtain more political repre- sentation for workers. We are undertaking industry-wide campaigns to organize large numbers of workers, such as the California strawberry workers campaign in Watsonville, the construction and gaming industry organizing in Las Vegas, and the poultry-pro- cessing industry organizing in the South. We are also hiring more people who speak the language of the workers we are trying to organize as well as that of the workers we already represent. You have referred to the labor movement's efforts to build coalitions. Could you give a particular instance of such experiences and a general assessment of your orga- nization's approach to coalition building? One particular instance is the strawberry workers orga- nizing campaign, where we have formed a coalition that includes 80 different organizations, including Catholic bishops, NAACP chapters and other civil rights organi- zations, and several community groups. Our general 53 53 VoL XXXI, No 1 JuLY/AUG 1997VOICES ON THE LEFT approach is to bring these groups together on one issue today, so that we Wor can bring them together on several other workers, issues tomorrow. Even in the case of coalitions built during elections, the wha bonds that we establish are of a long- lasting nature. It is often the case that immigra our problems recur and we need to They all ensure that we receive the support of our allies in the future. In the case of safe w strikes, for example, it is essential that we educate the community about the a livin importance of not breaking the strike. We also invest in the community and adequa help groups such as senior citizens' insura organizations. We think that these groups will be more willing to join pension efforts with the unions because the unions have helped them. respect fo We don't want to be considered out- siders because we know that our inter- rights a ests overlap with those of the communi- and as h u ties. We want to be considered as part of the communities and as one with 'the groups that are contributing to improve people's living conditions. It is time for us to assume our responsibilities within our communities, in the same way we demand corporate responsibility toward workers and communi- ties. We want companies to know that a hurt to one is a hurt to all. What is the role of immigrant workers in the labor move- ment? What is the AFL-CIO's position on the recently implemented restrictions on legal immigrants' eligibility for certain kinds of public assistance including food stamps and medical assistance? Immigrant workers have always played a key role in the U.S. labor movement. Many of our union affiliates are undertaking promising organizing efforts involving industries and work sites with a predominantly immi- grant workforce. Furthermore, workers are workers no matter what their immigration status is. The AFL-CIO does not believe in discriminating against workers because of their national origin or their immigration status. All workers deserve a safe workplace, a living wage, adequate health insurance and pension plans, and respect for their basic rights as workers and as human beings. My organization does not tolerate any form of discrimination against immigrant workers, and believes that they should be treated with dignity and respect. The AFL-CIO believes that social benefits for legal immi- grants should not be restricted, and opposes the recently passed restrictions on the eligibility of legal immigrants for various social programs. kers are no matter t their tion status. deserve a orkplace, g wage, te health nce and plans, and r their basic s workers man beings. What is the AFL-CIO's position on women's and minority representation at the leadership level of labor orga- nizations? On this issue in general, there is a need for a mind change in the labor movement. The AFL-CIO started by setting an example-not only by cre- ating the new position of executive vice president, but also by getting me elected to fill that position. This sig- nalled the beginning of the changes that are needed. We need to have unions bring more women and minorities to high-ranking positions. We also need unions to hire more women and minorities. We believe that our unions need to diversify not only the leadership but also their staffs, to the point that we start to actually see more women and people of color not just in organizing depart- ments, but also in education, research and all other areas. Many unions are aware of the need for change and it is beginning to happen. What is the AFL-CIO doing in terms of establishing alliances with unions in other countries in order to con- front the increasing internationalization of the economy? The AFL-CIO works in cooperation with its sister fed- eration in Canada, the Canadian Labor Congress (CLC), and we have relationships with unions in numerous countries. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney has been working closely with the International Labor Organ- ization (ILO) to link international trade with labor rights. We are concerned that workers' basic rights in other countries are not being respected by companies that take advantage of low wages to compete in the international market. We don't want unfair trade agreements. We want a social clause to be included in international trade treaties so that workers' human rights and union rights are protected in those countries we trade with. Our union affiliates are also reaching out to their counterparts in other countries in order to join efforts on several issues. Such was the case of the steelwork- ers' union which was able to reach a favorable settle- ment with Bridgestone-Firestone thanks to the cooper- ation of unions from Japan. The United Auto Workers and many other unions are also developing relation- ships with unions in other countries. There is a lot of international work being done by the AFL-CIO and the affiliates.
