AFL-CIO’s Sweeney voices solidarity with Bush’s wars

[Aidoneus]

AFL-CIO’s Sweeney voices solidarity with Bush’s wars
By Bill Vann
5 September 2003

John Sweeney, the president of the AFL-CIO, appeared Wednesday before the Detroit Economic Club, a forum organized by the city’s establishment to unveil what was touted as a new “jobs initiative.” As it turned out, the US union federation’s plan amounted to little more than a political scam aimed at saving some of the jobs, salaries and perks of its own officialdom at the expense of the unemployed.

The general indifference to what Sweeney had to say was made plain by the absence of invited executives from the Big Three automakers, prominent local politicians and even leading union officials.

Nonetheless, his remarks in Detroit deserve careful consideration for what they reveal about the social and political physiognomy of this organization that bills itself as the “American labor movement.”

Sweeney began by declaring that, two days after Labor Day, “we have a lot to celebrate.” He continued: “Worker productivity in our country is the highest ever, and the working class heroes who pulled us through 9/ 11 and its aftermath are doing so again in Afghanistan and Iraq.”

Why record “worker productivity” is something an organization that claims to represent the interests of workers should celebrate, the AFL- CIO head did not explain. The dramatic increase in productivity by US corporations—at an annual rate of 6.8 percent according to the latest Labor Department figures—has translated into layoffs on the one hand and speedup on the other. Sweeney’s remark, delivered to a largely corporate audience, amounts to boasting about the role of the AFL-CIO unions in facilitating this whipsawing of the American workforce.

But it is on the issue of war where the real reactionary character of the American trade union bureaucracy comes through most clearly.

--snip--

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/sep2003/swee-s05.shtml

[HereSince1628]

1. Yeah that's sad...

But many of his constituents use their playground experience to interpret life. On the playground if you don't do something to look tough you get mugged by the bully.

Doing temporary stints in construction this spring and summer I have repeatedly heard this logic from other workers and delivery drivers.

[jiacinto]

2. So now the Socialists are attacking Labor Unions?

nt

[HereSince1628]

3. If that is how you see it...

you are intitled to your opinion...

Of course it could be that the AFL-CIO's support for the hegemonic foreign policies of an administration that otherwise seeks to rip-off the poor and working classes seems just a little like "man bites dog."

[Aidoneus]

4. it is impossible to reduce such complicated issues,

to the oversimplified/soundbyte level, and I don't want to try. What is written there is made out fairly plainly (but of course requires a bit of background into it, also at least 50yrs of history, which would take days to flesh out..), reducing it further is not on my dance card at the moment.. though if anything comes of this I would be glad to go into a discussion on the matter later tonight if you would like.

Did you read the whole thing to understand Vann's point or just skim something you could reduce to a shallow one-liner?

[KG]

5. no, he didn't read it. he saw the link to wsws and turned off his mind.

the article explicitly attacks union leadership, Sweeney and AFL-CIO specifically, and takes the side of the rank and file that are getting screwed by them and their policies.

much union bereaucracy is, like the democratic party, subservient to corporate intersts, and totally out of touch with working class america. they are two organizations that seem to exist mostly to perpetuate themselves, rather than serve the original purposes of the people that fought and sometime died for their creation.

my pet theory is union leadership used to be made up of former rank and file member that worked their way up. now it made up of cronies and lawyers, men that never hefted the tools of the tradesmen they are paid to represent.

[Aidoneus]

6. ok, I was wrong

it could be condensed into a short bit. thanks & agreed. :toast: