NEITHER PURE NOR SIMPLE The AFL-CIO and Latin America
"I'M SCOTFISH AND I'M SOUTHERN AND! like revenge," AFL-CIO president Lane Kirk- land told the labor federation's 1985 convention. "When the Bible says, 'The Lord says, Vengeance is mine' I think...
...Moments before he voiced his cry for revenge, several high-ranking union leaders had forthrightly criticized AFL-CIO support for the Reagan Administration's stance on Central America...
...He explores AIFLD's emergence and its extensive ties to the U.S...
...What policy would offer real solidarity to Latin American workers...
...Labor is not often thought of as a major actor in U.S...
...policy dictates...
...and AFL-CIO foreign policies been ques- tioned within the house of labor...
...Slaney offers some pro- vocative answers which reveal labor's potential to press for a new type of policy from Washington...
...In "Unions Look South," Latin American labor historian Hobart A. Spalding Jr...
...When the Bible says, 'The Lord says, Vengeance is mine' I think He just knew a good thing and was keeping it all to His own self...
...When the Bible says, 'The Lord says, Vengeance is mine' I think He just knew a good thing and was keeping it all to His own self...
...Kirkland was piqued because never before had the marriage of convenience between U.S...
...business interests...
...And Kirkland was hard put to explain how backing the Central America policy of such an anti-labor administration as Reagan's is in workers' interest...
...Kirkland was piqued because never before had the marriage of convenience between U.S...
...government, as well as its support for right- wing regimes "with little regard for their policy towards labor and a lot of regard for their policy towards the United States...
...But, as the title of our Report indicates, the Federation, primarily through AIFLD, is deeply enmeshed in the politics of Latin America, either building workers' organizations or undermining them, as U.S...
...In fact, organized labor has traditionally been an important voice for progressive politics in Washington, favoring social and economic policies which in the Reagan era seem to have slipped off the left end of the spectrum of acceptable political opinion...
...But, like much of the Democratic Party mainstream, the AFL-CIO's liberalism at home is matched only by its hawkishness abroad...
...But Kirkland may have also been alluding to a more immediate event...
...foreign policy...
...And Kirkland was hard put to explain how backing the Central America policy of such an anti-labor administration as Reagan's is in workers' interest...
...Spalding shows that AIFLD is not above using bribery, sowing divisive threats or encouraging government repression to achieve its goal of building "democratic" trade unions...
...T HE AFL-CIO MAINTAINS THAT THE BOTtom line of its foreign policy is to promote Samuel Gomper's philosophy of "pure and simple trade un- ionism": that labor should stick to bread-and-butter demands and steer clear of politics...
...foreign policy...
...business interests...
...promoted destabilization of progressive or nationalist governments which preceded them...
...In recounting the battle over Federation support for U.S...
...And what policy is in our self-interest as workers in the United States...
...Spalding shows that AIFLD is not above using bribery, sowing divisive threats or encouraging government repression to achieve its goal of building "democratic" trade unions...
...In "Unions Look South," Latin American labor historian Hobart A. Spalding Jr...
...But, like much of the Democratic Party mainstream, the AFL-CIO's liberalism at home is matched only by its hawkishness abroad...
...Moments before he voiced his cry for revenge, several high-ranking union leaders had forthrightly criticized AFL-CIO support for the Reagan Administration's stance on Central America...
...MAY/JUNE 1988 13 The AFL-CIO and Latin America S6 1 'M SCOTTISH AND I'M SOUTHERN AND I "1 like revenge," AFL-CIO president Lane Kirkland told the labor federation's 1985 convention...
...foreign pol- icy team, and why it chose to support the efforts of business and government to defuse radical or nationalist tendencies among Latin American workers...
...Over the years, the American Institute for Free Labor Development has cropped up in many of our Re- ports on Latin America and the Caribbean...
...policy in Central America, he addresses some crucial questions facing unionists today...
...In recounting the battle over Federation support for U.S...
...From El Salvador to Argentina, from Haiti to Honduras, there always has been need to mention this little known institate of the AFL-CIO as it has played an influential role at key moments in the labor struggles of the continent...
...What policy would offer real solidarity to Latin American workers...
...In our final article, Dave Slaney, president of a Steelworkers' local, examines the rupture of the longstanding consensus on foreign policy within the AFL-CIO...
...But Kirkland may have also been alluding to a more immediate event...
...Over the years, the American Institute for Free Labor Development has cropped up in many of our Reports on Latin America and the Caribbean...
...He explores AIFLD's emergence and its extensive ties to the U.S...
...When Sam Gompers said, 'We're for more justice and less revenge' he wasn't saying no revenge, he said there ought to be a little left over and I want to take advantage of that...
...foreign policy team, and why it chose to support the efforts of business and government to defuse radical or nationalist tendencies among Latin American workers...
...AIFLD Amok" looks at the Institute's involve- ment in military coups and the U.S...
...examines how the Federation came to be a key player on the U.S...
...And what policy is in our self-interest as workers in the United States...
...In fact, organized labor has traditionally been an important voice for progressive politics in Washington, favoring social and economic policies which in the Reagan era seem to have slipped off the left end of the spectrum of acceptable political opinion...
...policy dictates...
...policy in Central America, he addres- ses some crucial questions facing unionists today...
...HE AFL-CIO MAINTAINS THAT THE BOTtom line of its foreign policy is to promote Samuel Gomper's philosophy of "pure and simple trade unionism": that labor should stick to bread-and-butter demands and steer clear of politics...
...From El Salvador to Argentina, from Haiti to Honduras, there always has been need to mention this little known institute of the AFL-CIO as it has played an influential role at key moments in the labor struggles of the continent...
...In our final article, Dave Slaney, president of a Steelworkers' local, examines the rupture of the longstanding consensus on foreign policy within the AFL-CIO...
...Labor is not often thought of as a major actor in U.S...
...Slaney offers some provocative answers which reveal labor's potential to press for a new type of policy from Washington...
...Although AIFLD now claims to be equally opposed to "dictatorships of the Right and the Left," Spalding demonstrates that in practice it focuses on those countries where powerful labor movements threaten U.S...
...Kirkland was ostensIbly referring to the 1981 death- squad slaying of two employees of the AFL-CIO's American Institute for Free Labor Development (AIFLD), who had been advising the Salvadoran gov- ernment's land reform program...
...government, as well as its support for rightwing regimes "with little regard for their policy towards labor and a lot of regard for their policy towards the United States...
...examines how the Federation came to be a key player on the U.S...
...But, as the title of our Report indicates, the Federation, primarily through AIFLD, is deeply enmeshed in the politics of Latin America, either building workers' organizations or undermining them, as U.S...
...Kirkland was ostensibly referring to the 1981 deathsquad slaying of two employees of the AFL-CIO's American Institute for Free Labor Development (AIFLD), who had been advising the Salvadoran government's land reform program...
...Although AIFLD now claims to be equally opposed to "dictatorships of the Right and the Left," Spalding demonstrates that in practice it focuses on those countries where powerful labor movements threaten U.S...
...and AFL-CIO foreign policies been questioned within the house of labor...
...AIFLD Amok" looks at the Institute's involvement in military coups and the U.S.-promoted destabilization of progressive or nationalist governments which preceded them...
...When Sam Gompers said, 'We're for more justice and less revenge' he wasn't saying no revenge, he said there ought to be a little left over and I want to take advantage of that...
Vol. 22 • May 1988 • No. 3
