COMMENTS: Labor Remains in Politics-Interviews with Lane Kirkland and other AFL-CIO Leaders
Clark, Joseph
Interviews with Lane Kirkland and other AFL-CIO Leaders Whether or not the idea ever had any validity, no one could argue plausibly after November 6 that labor is the leader or vanguard of the...
...In other words, all the programs of the Great Society, all the welfare, Food Stamps, increased Social Security, and the like have simply kept things in place...
...If there is no two-thirds vote for one candidate, then there should be agreement by all not to endorse...
...they were there because they were committed...
...He didn't think the youth vote had moved permanently to the Republicans...
...Our motive in taking the new approach," Kirkland continued, "was designed as much to find a way to maintain trade union solidarity as it was to support any particular candidate...
...The basic element of the process," Kirkland pressed home, "is to reestablish and sustain the internal solidarity of the labor movement...
...This happened because the TV networks, with the exception of CBS, polled union households but not union members–and even in the latter case Teamsters union members and others who had endorsed Reagan were included...
...The demographic structure of the AFL–CIO, Kirkland noted, might be expected to make them incline toward Reagan—"except that they are trade unionists...
...With respect to issues, the electorate as a whole tended to support most policies favored by Mondale, such as a nuclear freeze and protecting American workers from unfair foreign competition...
...Jacob Sheinkman, secretary-treasurer of the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers, said his union's decision to endorse Mondale followed a poll of the membership, in which a great majority of the 60,000 participating members wanted the Minnesotan...
...There was little pessimism in Kirkland's view of the future...
...There's a deep-felt sentiment that moves them, he said...
...WAS THE SOLIDARITY that labor achieved in its campaign for Mondale dissipated after November 6? Conversations with leaders of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees' union, the United Auto Workers, the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union, and the United Steelworkers of America revealed a remarkable consensus among labor chiefs...
...According to an important new study by Joseph A. Pechman of the Brookings Institution, this assumption seems to be wrong...
...Lucy emphatically denied this...
...Third, and he emphasized this, there were the circumstances of economic recovery...
...Nor did he think efforts to divide laborers and consumers were logical...
...Our main responsibility is to the membership, and their participation in the political process...
...Kirkland replied that the membership rolls of the AFL–CIO reflect those very demographic changes...
...He felt that many people who voted for President Reagan "wanted to be shielded from reality and just to feel good about themselves...
...It was a far more democratic way and enlisted far more labor participation in the campaign than it had before, Kirkland said...
...That older AFL–CIO members, 65 and over, voted against Reagan by a margin of 68 to 32 may not be surprising...
...if there is, the general agreement should be to endorse...
...Labor would have played a more decisive part, Lucy said, if its organization efforts among the unorganized had been pursued with greater vigor, more means, and more success...
...Nor was Peter Hart exaggerating when he asserted: In an election in which the Democratic nominee was severely weakened by major defections from the ranks of Democratic voters, the AFL—CIO was successful in maintaining a high degree of Democratic solidarity among its membership...
...Kirkland said he'd challenge anyone to name a large organization anywhere that had as carefully consulted with and received the views of its rankandfile membership as the AFL–CIO did in endorsing Walter Mondale...
...When the CBS/New York Times poll queried union members, they found 57 percent were for Mondale, 41 percent for Reagan...
...I believe," Bieber said, "that a preconvention endorsement also gave us greater impact within the Democratic party...
...Before primaries assumed their present role, Kirkland recalled, there might be only a dozen people in the entire country who would be effectively involved in the search for and naming of the candidate...
...Perhaps the inscription on the mural in the AFL–CIO headquarters exaggerates when it says: LABOR OMNIA VINCIT...
...but all emphatically affirmed the correctness of the election strategy...
...they note that pressure for such an endorsement by the AFL–CIO, and by practically all its affiliated unions, came from lower-echelon leaders who are close to the rank and file...
...We've also got to push for access to home ownership through lower interest rates...
...In local union voting on the presidential endorsement, the two-thirds rule was followed, and "Walter Mondale got a 90 percent per capita vote in the AFL–CIO...
...In 1966, the poorest fifth of American families had 4 percent of total American family income before tax, and the richest fifth had around 47 percent...
...Two public-opinion research firms—Peter D. Hart Research Associates and Fingerhut-Granados Opinion Research—conducted surveys for the AFL–CIO, both among members and in households where members resided...
...Bieber thought that "the Democrats did let the Republicans seize the issue of jobs and the future—two key issues for young people...
...Bieber also felt that the Democratic emphasis on the budget deficit and the need for higher taxes "was not appealing to young voters...
...This varied among the unions—in some the membership was polled...
...Organized labor was by far the single most active force in the Democratic election campaign...
...House and Senate candidates will not spurn our support," Kirkland said, cheerfully...
...He remembered with pride how the AFL–CIO had carried the banner of John F. Kennedy despite the pressures put on it by Lyndon Johnson...
...First, that the Republicans, above all Reagan, managed to monopolize the matter of patriotism and devotion to country...
...Would there now always be an AFL–CIO early endorsement...
...William Lucy, secretary-treasurer of AFSCME, said, "Labor unions have a single major responsibility— to protect the living standards of their people," and that includes "participation in the political life of the country...
...But Kirkland did want to make the point that for the past 50 years and more labor had been consulted and involved both in the nominating process and the election campaigns...
...But this much can be said: AFL–CIO members gave the Mondale–Ferraro ticket a bigger slice of their vote than the whole electorate gave Ronald Reagan in his sweeping victory...
...There just weren't enough of us," he added ruefully...
...WHAT ABOUT THE FUTURE...
...If the programs had not existed, the gap between rich and poor would have increased enormously...
...His predecessor, George Meany, Kirkland reminded me, strongly believed that labor should be involved in the political process at every stage...
...Indeed, Pechman concludes that if the muchmaligned social programs of the 1960s had not been in place, income distribution would have become far more unequal during the past two decades...
...Kirkland said that the AFL–CIO followed the rule that there must be a two-thirds vote in support of a candidate before there can be an endorsement...
...Gently, but with a sharp regard for the past half-century of labor history, Kirkland corrected a "widespread misconception" that organized labor has not been endorsing candidates before the nominating conventions...
...Owen Bieber, president of the UAW, said it certainly was not a mistake to endorse a candidate before the nominating convention...
...It was unfortunate that the poll of AFL–CIO members did not include the matter of a nuclear freeze and stepping up efforts to negotiate an end to the arms race...
...I am not necessarily wedded to the notion that we must endorse a candidate...
...It was something that rose from the bottom to the top, not the other way," he insisted...
...He added that many political observers were "now projecting the recapture of the Senate by the Democrats in 1986...
...The procedure then did not involve widespread participation...
...We need just 60 votes in the Senate," he said, "to bring about sorely needed labor-law reform...
...He cited two recent events: the organization by his union of the 30,000 employees in the California University system, and then of between 6,000 and 7,000 clerical and technical state employees in Iowa...
...He cited three reasons...
...Kirkland thought this was a catchword in the primary elections, but not a factor in the general election...
...also 20 to 22 percent craftspeople...
...People need jobs in order to be consumers," Kirkland said, "and today they need education to get the jobs...
...And Hart did...
...His contact with Democratic leaders throughout the country, he added, still shows a deep appreciation for what labor did in the election...
...Those AFL–CIO members who did vote for Reagan also backed labor positions on economic questions by margins of 5:1 and higher...
...By and large that's false," Kirkland answered, emphatically...
...He said that the union had 25,000 volunteers in the campaign, not "because I was out there with a whip and gun...
...Some acted out of oppor155 tunistic motives, some because of ideological ones...
...What about the charges that the AFL–CIO leaders acted on their own, I asked him, without consulting their members...
...How can organized labor aspire to participation in an electoral majority, considering the demographic changes that have occurred in our country...
...A national poll of AFL–CIO members showed 61 percent for Mondale, 39 percent for Reagan...
...q The Rich and the Poor President Reagan's notion of an "opportunity society" rests on the assumption that economic growth helps everyone, that everyone can get their slice of a larger pie...
...Bieber also observed that the Auto Workers and other AFL–CIO members had voted by large majorities for Mondale—and that many people who voted for Reagan were still supporters of labor and of Democratic positions...
...Kirkland paid his wry respects to Senator Gary Hart's use of the "special interest" attack on organized labor...
...He also thought that Mondale's position on higher taxes was too easily misinterpreted and helped the Republicans...
...The AFL–CIO also played an "active role in state caucuses and in state party conventions in behalf of Humphrey," he said...
...Because that was our major motive, we were wholly successful...
...Nor did he think anyone could find another large organization that had enlisted a higher proportion of rank-and-file members in conducting a political campaign...
...Interviews with Lane Kirkland and other AFL-CIO Leaders Whether or not the idea ever had any validity, no one could argue plausibly after November 6 that labor is the leader or vanguard of the people...
...Kirkland then summarized, in his view, the one compelling issue between the Republican and Democratic parties: the question of what is the appropriate role of the federal government in a modern economy...
...To my contention that the Democratic party and labor had neglected the issue of the nuclear arms race and the dangers of nuclear war, Kirkland said they had not played down the issue and that it was in the forefront of the campaign...
...We supplanted factionalism and division in the unions with a high degree of solidarity...
...He directed me to another Lincoln 157 quote, which I dutifully dug up, where the first Republican President said: As each man has one mouth to be fed, and one pair of hands to furnish food, it was probably intended that that particular pair of hands should feed that particular mouth—that each head is the natural guardian, director and protector of the hands and mouth inseparably connected with it...
...Here, too, he was optimistic...
...Returning to the matter of the service and industrial ratios in our economy, Kirkland said he didn't think an advanced service economy could survive without an industrial base...
...Yet he wasn't nostalgic about the days of the smokefilled rooms...
...This contrast was accentuated among AFL–CIO members...
...Are white-collar and service employees too hard to organize...
...We've got to champion funding for education to bring people into the high-tech jobs of the 1990s, not into McDonald jobs...
...homes will be lit by kerosene while children suffer from hookworm, dysentery, and pellagra...
...First, in bantering fashion, Kirkland said that in a race between Mother Theresa and Marie Antoinette, with the latter emphasizing not only that everything is all right and if there's no bread do eat cake, the queen won hands down...
...Two decades later, the figures are almost exactly the same...
...Those Democrats may have voted for Reagan in this election, but they still don't buy his antigovernment, antifairness economic philosophy...
...A reference to the rise of the economy's service sector and the decline of its industrial sector, the ever more white-collar and fewer blue-collar workers...
...but in an election where young voters went for Reagan by decisive percentages, it is noteworthy that AFL–CIO members under 35 voted for Mondale by 54 to 46 percent...
...They may be different types, with varied backgrounds, at times at odds with each other...
...In addition, he demonstrates that the progressive tax system— far from punishing the industrious rich ever more harshly in order to pamper the slothful poor, as recent mythology claims—has virtually stopped being progressive at Pechman's surprising conclusion is that this progressive redistribution of income has been more than swallowed up by regressive changes in the market economy...
...And why did the Republican message seem to appeal more successfully to younger voters...
...He didn't think that leaving the choice of a candidate for the presidency to the mayors of Chicago and Pittsburgh, the Democratic leaders of the Bronx and Manhattan's Tammany, along with a handful of labor leaders, was the best way to carry out this responsibility...
...According to public-opinion surveys, the UAW president said, "Those Democrats who crossed over to vote for Reagan still support the view that government should do more to protect people from the power of big banks and big corporations, and that government has a responsibility to see that able-bodied people have work...
...This may come as a surprise to many who heard accounts after the election suggesting that organized labor had won barely half the votes of its membership...
...Kirkland sees 1968 as a turning point, with the new emphasis on mass participation in the nominating process...
...Only when the federal government got to them could such problems be solved...
...No longer could the candidates assume that, regardless of their stands on issues, they would be assured of labor support if they won the nomination...
...The Democrats had lost that kind of nose, which senses what moves people and how they are influenced...
...all 13 won in 1980 by narrow margins...
...With regard to the first factor Kirkland described how local unions all over the country recite the pledge of allegiance to the flag at the opening of all their meetings...
...So you had the development of factionalism, with unions competing and vilifying each other...
...The media continued to misapply the term, he agreed...
...But he surely agreed that the people are deeply concerned about the dangers of nuclear war and want multilateral reduction of the deadly weapons...
...To which another Lincoln quote is a fitting amen: "To secure to each laborer the whole product of his labor, or as nearly as possible, is a most worthy object of any good government...
...Their polls of AFL–CIO households found 57 percent for Mondale and 43 percent for Reagan on top of the 61-39 count of AFL–CIO members...
...With a premium on early and active participation in support of a prospective candidate, different parts of the trade union movement went for various candidates without consultation among themselves...
...that being so, every head should be cultivated, and improved, by whatever will add to its capacity for performing its charge...
...But labor may help win the Senate for the Democrats in 1986 and then—who knows about 1988...
...others relied mainly on the local union officers who are chosen directly by the members and are responsible to them...
...Second, that Reagan has a most acute political nose...
...He looks forward to the senatorial election of 1986, when 8 Republican Senators with execrable voting records and 5 more Republican Senators with just ordinarily bad records are up for reelection...
...I would be perfectly content if there were no endorsement when there's a failure to reach two-thirds support...
...One thing I am wedded to," Kirkland went on, "that we all stick together, that's what I'm wedded to...
...The gender gap in the AFL–CIO was much wider than it was among voters generally—with white male members voting for Mondale 54 to 46 percent and women 61 to 39 percent...
...He put equal emphasis on the labor campaign for Hubert Humphrey in 1968 and noted that he had participated in helping to set up a national labor committee to nominate Hubert Humphrey as the Democratic candidate...
...He pointed out that there is a growing percentage of better-educated working people—a higher number of high school graduates and people with college degrees, also reflecting the demographic changes in the country...
...Why did we lose...
...I was not convinced...
...There was then a continuation of active labor participation in the nominating stage of the campaign, but labor was divided, not united...
...There are 41 percent white-collar workers in the AFL–CIO and 38 percent blue-collar workers...
...still, the results were not always bad, and Kirkland mentioned Franklin D. Roosevelt and John E Kennedy...
...In the first reliable analysis of American family income in recent years, Pechman reports that the distribution of income has not changed at all in the last 20 years...
...And why did the attack against labor as a "special interest" acquire such currency...
...If we consider the tremendous margin that black 154 voters racked up for Mondale over Reagan, it is not surprising that among black AFL–CIO members the margin was even greater: 94 to 6 percent...
...New Republic, February 18, 1985 q 159...
...The New Deal proved that private enterprise and state government, without the federal government's participation and guidance, will give us poorhouses and will not pave country roads...
...Government is not the problem, it is an instrument for solving problems, and it must continuously seek out ways to promote the general welfare...
...But Labor leaders seem more convinced than ever that this was a correct and proper decision...
...but when the rules were changed in 1968 and the primary contests became the major avenue by which the Democratic nominee was chosen, there was criticism...
...But what evolved in the early period when primaries became the major road to nomination, Kirkland pointed out, was "a pattern that I believe was damaging to the internal solidarity of the trade union movement...
...158 Why, then, the loss on November 6? The average American feels, I'm OK now, Sheinkman said...
...The irony of the 'special interest' charge," Kirkland said, "is that politicians from Colorado or Florida or Georgia bleed the country for peanut, tobacco, citrus fruit, or water rights, while pontificating about the evils of 'special interests...
...He agreed that the issue of nuclear war or negotiations for peace had not been as aggressively pursued as it might have been...
...In voting for congressional offices, both Senate and House, AFL–CIO members chose Democrats by even wider margins than the general electorate, which managed to retain the Democratic House majority and reduced the Republican lead in the Senate by two seats...
...For Democratic legislators who might think that unionbusting was the mandate on November 6, Kirkland recalled the film The Bridge on the River Kwai and spoke of those who might want to build bridges for the enemy...
...Kirkland described the paradox that when labor actively participated with Democratic party political bosses in naming the nominee, it was considered normal...
...Nor did he think it was so wonderful that a New Jersey Democratic leader could boast that he was always a delegate and never ran for delegate from New Jersey...
...The AFL–CIO surely was justified when it claimed, "This shift toward the Democratic presidential candidate was all the more remarkable in the face of a sizable move in the opposite direction on the part of other voters...
...Gerald McEntee, the president of AFSCME, pointed out how their union spent months consulting with its 3,000 locals to determine its endorsement for 1984...
...That means we need 9 more Senators who will return to and uphold the standards and prac156 tices of the National Labor Relations Act and demand a Labor Department that will live up to its name...
...That difference, Kirkland went on, meant that they voted 61 percent to 39 for Mondale, against Reagan: 25 percent more for Mondale than the general population...
...Virtually every affiliated union of the AFL–CIO had a process of widespread and effective consultation, he continued...
...I ASKED LANE KIRKLAND, president of the AFL– CIO, in retrospect, would he say this new departure was a mistake...
...Considering the outcome, it has been suggested that this would lead to second thoughts about the wisdom of the unions endorsing a presidential candidate before the Democratic national convention...
...In one word, Free Labor insists on universal education...
...We always thought it was right to represent our members in the political process...
...Finally, Lynn Williams, president of the United Steelworkers of America, said his membership had been more active than ever in such key areas as Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Illinois, and that the MondaleFerraro ticket won large majorities in the steel communities of Youngstown, northern Indiana, Chicago, Baltimore, and Philadelphia...
...We had to grapple with ways to play an effective role under the new rules," he said...
...Without solidarity, we lose our effectiveness and become an element subject to manipulation by others...
...The AFL–CIO president liked the comments of a famous Republican on this matter—Abe Lincoln's suggestion that if the Lord had wanted some to work while others ate he would have made some with hands and no mouths and others vice versa...
...I recall," Kirkland said, "people from the Hart campaign called on us after the first super-Tuesday, to say that they thought the Senator could be persuaded to stop attacking labor as a `special interest...
...I know because I was there," Kirkland said, recalling the many years when he had been Meany's chief aide, accompanying him or standing in for him at many of the top-level consultations...
...He also thought the campaign didn't sufficiently appreciate the widespread sentiment for a positive approach and for a feeling of optimism about the future of the country...
...Kirkland told them he didn't want that concession from the Hart campaign, because he felt Hart would hurt himself in industrial states such as Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Illinois with his "special interest" criticism of labor...
Vol. 32 • April 1985 • No. 2
