WHAT THE WASHINGTON LABOR LOBBYISTS DO
Caplan, Marvin
Here are some of the things one Washington labor lobbyist was trying to do in the final weeks of the 93rd Congress: • help break the Senate filibuster that was killing the proposed Agency for...
...And again, it is the issue of jobs that had led the Federation to oppose cuts in defense-spending and to come out for limits on foreign trade...
...Because of its superior skill, labor tends to look upon some of the public interest lobbyists as well-meaning amateurs...
...THE PUBLIC INTEREST GROUPS turn to labor for clout and skill...
...On one occasion recently the rank and file pushed the Federation forward...
...Labor's are in demand...
...they got no help at all from the nonlabor groups they work with...
...But even among them, few work to understand the Hill in the way the best of the labor lobbyists do...
...Those who criticize the unions for their treatment of minorities ignore the fact that George Meanyand no comparable figure from the business community— came in person to Congress in 1963 to urge enactment of a federal equal employment law that he said would help the AFL—CIO fight racial discrimination within its locals...
...Frustrating...
...A good example is labor's single-handed campaign in 1965 to get Congress to repeal Section 14 (b) of the Taft-Hartley Act, the section that sanctions state "right-to-work" laws...
...A founder of ADA, a group frequently at odds with sections of organized labor, he says, "I think labor is the major lobbying force in Washington for the public interest...
...The others are committed to the notion of the labor movement as an instrument for social change...
...The movement's very expertness is both a strength and perhaps a limitation...
...Occasionally it gives financial help to some of the coalitions of outside groups and to a few civil rights lobbying organizations...
...Supreme Court might not have been defeated...
...The three "a's," for instance—amnesty, acid, and abortion...
...But given the meager and ragged forces that fight for the needs of the average citizen, there is not a public interest lobbyist in Washington who, if pressed, would not finally admit that labor's help is indispensable...
...Labor's access to congressional leadership, the second criticism runs, is generally so good, it tends to deal with the top brass and to ignore the lower ranks, particularly those liberals whose enthusiasms for hopeless causes will sometimes strike labor's people as "unprofessional...
...reestablish American commitment to the UN boycott of racist Rhodesia...
...Now the AFL—CIO supports the ERA (the UAW always did), and in at least one state, Ohio, local labor leaders supplied the margin needed to get the amendment ratified...
...One reason why, some labor lobbyists think, is that there was no quid pro quo...
...Because of these close alliances, the critics say, labor will trim its position on an issue—campaign-financing, for instance, or congressional reform...
...The only coalition in which it participates formally is the 25-year-old Leadership Conference on Civil Rights...
...Two things finally changed the Federation's mind: the realization that strengthened federal antidiscrimination laws obviate the need for the state statutes...
...Yet the UAW works directly with Common Cause, and so do some of the AFL–CIO affiliates...
...The UAW and some of the internationals tend to enter coalitions more readily...
...And the criticism of the AFL—CIO on issues of foreign policy often ignores its steadfast support of Israel through some of the recent shifts of the liberal position on that country...
...The amendment was beaten back on several occasions by one or two votes...
...But for labor, Rauh believes, such measures as federal aid to education and Medicare would not have been enacted...
...NOTEBOOK 195...
...Because it must broaden the base of support for its interests, the AFL–CIO cooperates—generally on an informal basis—with ad hoc coalitions that spring up from time to time on such issues as federal aid to education, child care, housing, legal services, national health insurance, etc...
...But on key issues, labor is counted on to pick up these `establishment' votes...
...Labor will occasionally lose when it has to fight alone...
...protect school desegregation from any more "anti-busing" amendments...
...But even on some matters of broader social import—such as food stamps (for students as well as for striking workers), increases in the federal minimum wage, occupational safety and health, protections and benefits for harvest hands in the sugar fields—a frequent complaint among labor lobbyists is that too many of the public interest groups fail to see the implications and give, at best, only minimal support...
...Leaving business representatives aside, there are very few lobbyists who really know their way around on Capitol Hill...
...Unnoticed by the press was a time, last summer, when labor made the difference in the Senate fight to block the addition to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of an "anti-busing" amendment that would have imposed possibly unconstitutional restraints upon the powers of the federal courts in school desegregation cases...
...And these are the lobbyists whom Joe Rauh singles out...
...There is not a representative of any religious denomination who exerts a comparable influence, with the possible exception of one or two of the Jewish or Catholic representatives, and none in civil rights except Clarence Mitchell...
...These are the men and women he has in mind, when Clarence Mitchell, director of the Washington office of the NAACP, says of the major civil rights laws enacted during his 30 years in Washington, "As a practical point, I don't see how we could've made it without labor...
...Some of the public interest lobbyists are listened to in Congress for their special knowledge of technical legislation...
...Both they and the Federation feared the amendment would invalidate the system of protective laws for women they had worked so many years to get enacted...
...According to this view, labor's lobbyists are so busy dealing with immediate issues that they take short views, pay too little attention to the good idea that may still be a long way down the road and, in legislative battles, avoid some of the socially worthy ones that look like "losers...
...More times than one likes to think...
...Among public interest groups, Common Cause and Ralph Nader's organization are making their presence felt in Congress...
...They work closely with about 25 or 30 representatives of international unions affiliated with the Federation, with lobbyists for the UAW and, now that Arnold Miller is president, with representatives of the United Mine Workers...
...To this a labor lobbyist retorts, "Liberals get angry at our ties with the leadership...
...The AFL—CIO opposed the Equal Rights Amendment for Women at the beginning of that fight—so, too, did some of the well-established national women's groups...
...The Federation supported the Alaskan pipeline because jobs were involved...
...On issues of environment the AFL—CIO occasionally faces a conflict between ideological commitment and an overriding need to worry about unemployment...
...their interests are generally parochial...
...Imperfect...
...Sometimes the obverse is true...
...You can't have it both ways...
...That campaign failed...
...save from extinction that last fine remnant of OEO's war on poverty—the community action programs...
...It is such evidence of the labor movement's ability to swing the balance on a social issue that keeps alive, through exasperations and dissatisfactions, the ideal of a cooperative, mutually sustaining alliance...
...And while they need and seek labor's influence, some of these people feel labor's close working relationship with the sources of power in Congress makes it less zealous in tackling unpopular social issues...
...All too often, liberals can only lobby liberals who don't need to be lobbied...
...Jobs, or the threat of losing them, is the main reason why it supported building the Super-Sonic Transport and the Anti-Ballistic Missile...
...the AFL–CIO works with Nader...
...The nucleus of the labor lobbyists is drawn from NOTEBOOK 193 the AFL–CIO: a group of eight in the Legislative Department, headed by Andrew Biemiller, a former Wisconsin congressman, and a few more from the Federation's Industrial Union Department...
...But for labor, he says, the deplorable nominations of Clement Haynsworth and J. Harrold Carswell to the U.S...
...and pressure from women trade unionists...
...Within the Federation, there is an enclave of lobbyists for the building, construction, and maritime trades...
...To those who feel the American labor movement is hopelessly coopted by the Establishment, it may come as a surprise to learn that the Washington labor lobbyists regularly supply the muscle on Capitol Hill for most of the campaigns in support of civil rights and social welfare legislation...
...But there are, even the critics concede, large exceptions to this last complaint...
...and while its relations with Common Cause are rather strained these days, it will work with that organization where they agree on an issue...
...e.g., George Meany's insistence that his lobbyists go all out to 194 NOTEBOOK defeat the Haynsworth and Carswell nominations, even though there seemed little likelihood of winning, because he believed both men would demean the Supreme Court...
...Though labor and the public interest groups recognize their need for each other, their relationship vacillates from a warmly reciprocal one to uneasiness with suspicions on both sides...
...block a bill that would make it almost impossible for minority groups and women to challenge the license renewals of radio and TV station-owners with discriminatory policies...
...And labor supplied these votes...
...Another factor limiting labor's ability to respond to social problems is the obvious need to take into account the views of its own members...
...Here are some of the things one Washington labor lobbyist was trying to do in the final weeks of the 93rd Congress: • help break the Senate filibuster that was killing the proposed Agency for Consumer Advocacy...
...Given their broad-based and diverse constituencies, there are issues on which neither the AFL—CIO nor the major unions outside it can take positions without running a risk of provoking fights within the ranks...
...Two frequent criticisms of labor are aimed at its close relationship with congressional leaders and at its superpragmatism...
Vol. 22 • April 1975 • No. 2
