(The Associated Press circulated the following article on December 9.)
DETROIT — Teamsters union President James P. Hoffa says the 13-million member AFL-CIO needs to undergo a major shakeup to reverse a long decline in membership and restore labor’s political influence.
Hoffa said he wants members of the labor federation’s constituent unions to increase organizing efforts and concentrate political action on key political battleground states that decided this year’s presidential election.
Hoffa said he hopes the Teamsters efforts “will allow us to build a more unified and more effective labor movement as we head into the coming AFL-CIO convention” in July.
The AFL-CIO, led by 70-year-old John Sweeney, sustained a big defeat in last month’s election, when President Bush won a second term and Republicans gained strength in the U.S. House and Senate despite strong labor backing of the Democrats.
The 1.7 million member Service Employees International Union has threatened to withdraw from the AFL-CIO if its demands are not met, and other unions could follow its lead.
Under proposals adopted by the Teamsters union’s executive committee, the AFL-CIO would rebate half of the $6.84 annual per capita tax — a total of about $45 million — to affiliate unions.
The money would fund a plan to organize wokers in the unions’ core industries.
The Teamsters also propose encouraging mergers between large and small unions, streamlining the federation’s operations and cutting its executive committee from 25 to no more than 15.
And the Temasters propose developing a new plan to gain growth and political power in key swing states.
“This is Jim Hoffa’s effort to make a contribution to rebuilding the American labor movement,” Greg Tarpinian, a Teamsters consultant, told The Detroit News for a story Thursday.
The movement to reorganize the AFL-CIO gained steam when Sweeney asked member unions to submit plans for rebuilding organized labor that can be considered at the federation’s executive committee meeting in March.
AFL-CIO spokeswoman Lane Windham said the Teamsters action represents “exactly the kind of discussion and proposals President Sweeney is seeking.
“It seems as if the Teamsters have a lot of thoughtful ideas,” she said. “Every one of the issues they raise is something that ought to be up for fair discussion.”
But Hoffa’s suggestions fall short of what Andrew Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union, has demanded.
Stern has proposed eliminating 40 unions from the AFL-CIO, cutting membership from 60 to 20 unions. He said he is prepared to withdraw his union from AFL-CIO membership if he is not satisfied by Sweeney’s response.
Stern has been joined by the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees and the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union in forming the New Unity Partnership.
Tarpinian said the AFL-CIO lacks the power to eliminate smaller unions but said the same goal might be achieved by encouraging mergers and offering financial incentives to larger unions to organize new workers.
“We are hoping that, if adopted, our proposals will keep SEIU and other unions in the AFL-CIO” Tarpinian said.