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"EIU's Hostile Leftist Takeover"
from http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/Re...le.asp?ID=16415
SEIU's Hostile Leftist Takeover
By William R. Hawkins
FrontPageMagazine.com | December 23, 2004
The Democratic Party is struggling to redefine itself in the wake of
its decisive defeat in the November elections, a drubbing that not only
saw the party fail to unseat President George W. Bush but saw it lose
seats in both houses of Congress to the Republicans. A similar struggle
is going on inside one of the Democrat's core constituencies: organized
labor. Radical activists groups like Moveon.org are calling for the
party to move to the Left; in fact, MoveOn recently declared it owned
the Democratic Party. The Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
is playing the same role within the AFL-CIO, and the proposed hostile
takeover threatens to place all of the nation's unions on the side of
the fifth column Left and illegal immigration -- or to split organized
labor apart.
Organized labor is already firmly within the ranks of the Democratic
Party, but the SEIU represents the hard Left politics of the Hate
America Left. At the SEIU's national convention last June (held in San
Francisco), the union voted to end the U.S. "occupation of Iraq" and to
bring U.S. troops home, in a resolution approved unanimously by nearly
4,000 delegates. The resolution accused the Bush administration of
using "deception, lies and false promises to the American people and
the world" to launch a "unilateral, pre-emptive war" in Iraq, causing
the death of thousands of Iraqis and costing taxpayers hundreds of
billions of dollars that could be spent on social programs. The
resolution aligned SEIU with the mission statement of U.S. Labor
Against the War (USLAW), a national network of more than 70 radical
"labor" organizations, including 19 of SEIU's local unions (the second
largest contingent of unions are 16 locals from the American Federation
of Teachers). The SEIU called for "the redirecting of the nation's
resources from inflated military spending to meeting the needs of
working families for health care, education, a clean environment,
housing and a decent standard of living."
"The SEIU is the only national labor organization to speak out so
unequivocally against the war in Iraq. The AFL-CIO and most of its
affiliates have had an unwritten policy of totally ignoring
Afghanistan, Iraq and the war on terrorism." wrote Harry Kelber in The
Labor Educator (June 30, 2004). Kelber, a labor activist since the
1930s, has been a severe critic of the lack of radicalism in the
AFL-CIO. A major theme of his series of newsletter articles entitled
"AFL-CIO's Dark Past" is that the American labor movement has usually
supported U.S. foreign policy, especially during the Cold War.
According to Kelber,"Union members were never told how, in their name,
AFL-CIO leaders meddled into the internal affairs of dozens of
countries, attacking indigenous labor unions and destabilizing
nationalist movements that would not conform to America's global
ambitions." That many of these so-called "indigenous labor unions" were
Communist front groups or the creatures of Communist regimes is not
mentioned.
Among the links on the SEIU website is one to LaborNet, an organization
founded in 1991 to build a "democratic communication network for the
labor movement." The site bills itself in much the same way that SEIU
does, claiming "only on LaborNet will you find a point of view that is
independent (and critical) of official Labor yet sympathetic to it. Our
selections are idiosyncratic yet consistently grounded in working class
priorities."
LaborNet, active in "antiwar" demonstrations, plans to protest at
President George W. Bush's inauguration on behalf of Communists,
terrorists, and Islamist radicals. It declares "A War Criminal Will be
Inaugurated on January 20 and the People will Protest." What follows is
an endorsement of International ANSWER's plan for a mass demonstration
in Washington, D.C., during the inauguration. It claims that the Bush
administration is "fully exposed for its destruction of Fallujah...The
U.S. military strategy and its rules of engagement in Fallujah
constitute a crime against humanity and war crimes as recognized by the
Nuremberg Trial and the Geneva Convention. Targeting hospitals, clinics
and ambulances, the U.S. forces tried to destroy everything...Our
demonstrations will be a powerful statement in solidarity with all
those who are under attack by the Bush administration -- from Cuba to
Palestine to Haiti to the Philippines to Iran and elsewhere." Of
course, no mention was made of the torture chambers and terrorist bomb
factories rooted out by U.S. and terrorists killed in Fallujah.
Undoubtedly many of the SEIU rank-and-file (not to mention its
leadership) will fill out the crowd.
SEIU, and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees (AFSCME) endorsed Howard Dean for the Democratic presidential
nomination at the height of Dean's antiwar campaign. Even after Dean
withdrew from the race, Stern continued to praise him, saying last
February 18, "We understand and respect his decision to stop pursuing
the presidency, but Howard Dean's 'campaign for change' is far
greater than a bid for the White House. His legacy will be felt well
beyond SEIU's members or even this election. Ordinary Americans,
working families, and the Democratic Party all owe a huge debt to
Governor Dean, for his candidacy has had a monumental effect on
American politics and our nation's values. SEIU holds no regrets."
Stern then publicly questioned whether unions should leave the
Democratic Party in pursuit of an overtly radical splinter party. With
Dean considering running for the chairmanship of the Democratic
National Committee, SEIU could take its reform campaign beyond the
AFL-CIO directly to top of its chosen political party.
The SEIU is the lead member of the New Unity Partnership, which also
includes the Laborers' International Union of North America, the Union
of Needletrade, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE), the Hotel
Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union (HERE), and the
United Brotherhood of Carpenters. A key feature of the New Unity
Partnership is the high percentage of immigrant workers they represent,
including large numbers who are in the United States illegally. The
SEIU has stressed the need "to build a powerful, new immigrant
electorate." The SEIU strategy is to win a complete amnesty for illegal
aliens to pave the way for their recruitment as left-wing voters. As
one of the SEIU's ten points in its plan, it states, "The AFL-CIO and
its affiliated unions must be leaders in demonstrating that regardless
of the color of your skin, the language that you speak, or your age,
gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, or immigration
status, you are empowered to play an active role as a member or
leader."
With labor union membership dropping from a high of 35 percent of the
work force in 1955, to only 13 percent today (and a mere 8 percent of
workers in the private sector), SEIU sees immigrant workers as a new
recruiting field. Since many of these workers are in the United States
illegally, SEIU must promise more than higher pay and benefits,
especially since the ability to gain such improvements in working
conditions is very difficult in the low skill, menial sectors of the
economy where SEIU concentrates. Among the achievements SEIU cites are:
helping pass a law in California that would allow immigrants to receive
a driver's license (blocked by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger);
conducting driver's license campaigns in Illinois, Texas, and
Massachusetts; working for state and federal legislation allowing
eligible students, regardless of immigration status, to apply for
federal scholarships and in-state tuition rates; and leading a
successful effort in Minnesota to preempt proposed federal legislation
that would empower state and local law police to detain illegal aliens.
SEIU's real aim is to build a larger political base for left-wing
politics, so the union created the Center for Immigrant Democracy and
Organization of Los Angeles Workers, which mounted a voter
registration and citizenship drive all across the country leading up to
the November election. "To win legalization [of illegal aliens], we
need to build a powerful, new immigrant electorate and to succeed, we
have to create a new dynamic of civic participation and empowerment in
our communities." proclaims the SEIU. The union opposes President
Bush's immigration reform plan because as a "guest workers program" it
does not put illegal immigrants on a fast track to the polling booth.
The New Unity Partnership is promoting what it considers to be a
visionary movement that will spearhead larger political, social and
cultural change that goes beyond just organizing members and
negotiating labor contracts. This drive reflects the Ivy League
educational background of many of the NUP leaders. Stern is a graduate
of Penn State. Bruce Raynor of UNITE has his degree from Cornell, and
John Wilhelm of HERE is a Yale alum. According to an L.A. Times article
by Richard Hurd, one union president has said the Ivy Leaguers take a
condescending tone with their blue collar brethren.United Steelworkers
of America President Leo Gerard agreed with the sentiment, saying, "I
don't need a lecture about mergers." Many of these elitist union
"leaders" cut their teeth in the New Left campus protests of the 1960s,
before entering active labor organizing in the (early) 1970s.
When the AFL-CIO leadership met a week after the elections, SEIU
President Andrew L. Stern presented a bold 10-point plan - called
"Unite to Win" - to change the labor movement's priorities and
structure. The key structural change is to reduce the number of
independent unions from the current 65 to roughly 20, concentrated by
industry. This would decrease internal competition and strengthen their
membership's united voice within those areas. SEIU plan states: "The
need to adapt the labor movement for the 21st century has been
discussed for years, but previous leaders failed to act, and workers
paid the price. American workers cannot afford to wait any longer."
This proposal has gotten the most media attention and sparked the most
resistance within the AFL-CIO, as many independent unions are wary of
such a concentration of power. The International Association of
Machinists and Aerospace Workers has already threatened to withdraw
from the AFL-CIO if the SEIU proposals are adopted. AFL-CIO President
John Sweeney assigned a committee to review the restructuring
proposals, along with ideas from other affiliated unions. He said the
issue would be on the table when the union presidents meet in February
in Los Angeles.
Sweeney had been the president of the SEIU before his elevation to head
the entire AFL-CIO in 1995. Stern hopes to succeed Sweeney, even if
that means pushing his old mentor out the door in the process.
More important to the future of the labor movement, and to American
politics, is not the structure of the AFL-CIO but the values and
programs it chooses to support. Stern and the SEIU have complained --
wrongly -- that the rest of the labor movement has not chosen to fight
the "global corporations [that] have won trade agreements that make it
easier for them to move production from place to place, while providing
no rights to help workers improve pay, working conditions, and job
security." In truth, the industrial unions within the AFL-CIO have
mounted strong campaigns in Congress to oppose free trade agreements,
most favored nation trading status for China, and "fast track"
legislative procedures (which would prevent Congress from amending
trade agreements to include protections for domestic industry). It has
been union pressure that has turned the Democratic Party solidly
against new trade negotiations.
The industrial unions, however, no longer represent the majority of
union members, much less the average worker. Thus the plight of laid
off factory workers and a declining industrial sector is not the top
priority of the movement. SEIU is a case in point. Its 1.7 members come
mainly from the heath care and government employee sectors, along with
janitors and security guards. Their members are not involved in
manufacturing which is the main battlefield in the global economy. The
American labor movement has looked to the service sector for its
growth; recruiting among government workers at all levels, teachers,
school administrators, postal workers, police, fire-fighters, and even
musicians, writers, actors, and athletes. The "hard hats" and factory
workers which the public associates with unions are in a distinct
minority in the AFL-CIO. What best serves the interest of the majority
of organized labor today is not the economic strength of the private
sector from which higher wages and benefits could flow, but the
expansion of the public sector and the social service financed by the
welfare state.
Given the large concentration of health care workers in its membership,
it is not surprising that SEIU's top priority is that the "AFL-CIO and
its affiliated unions and allies should unite behind an all-out
national strategy to win access to quality health care for all. The
AFL-CIO should lead a grassroots campaign for this purpose with
dedicated funding, campaign staff, and other necessary resources." The
Bush administration's creation of a prescription drug benefit in
Medicare, with an unfunded liability of at least $534 billion over the
next ten years, gained no points from SEIU as it does not put any money
into the hands of its members.
By substituting leftist ideology for work floor pragmatism, Stern and
his allies are not just radicalizing the Democratic Party in the name
of "the working man." They are attempting to build their political base
on an alien "alienated proletariat," instead of aiding the blue-collar
middle class, who above all else wish to own homes and company stock --
and who often dream of going into business themselves. Such a change
will not help them achieve their dreams; it will hinder that. But it
could pose a danger to the nation's core values, institutions and even
our very security.
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12-23-2004 01:01 PM
