July 25 (Bloomberg) -- The Service Employees International Union and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, two of the three largest unions in the AFL-CIO, are severing ties to the federation because of differences over organizing tactics.
``I want to stress that this was not an easy or happy decision,'' SEIU President Andrew Stern said at a briefing today in Chicago alongside Teamsters President James P. Hoffa. The two groups make up 20 percent of the AFL-CIO, an umbrella for 56 unions representing 13 million workers in North America.
The unions, part of a splinter group called Change to Win, are at odds with AFL-CIO President John Sweeney over how to revive the power of organized labor at a time when private-sector union membership has dipped below 8 percent, the lowest level since the 1920s. Their departure from AFL-CIO constitutes one of the biggest splits in organized labor in 70 years.
``The old union refrain is in unity there is strength, in strength there's unity,'' former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich said in an interview today. ``So this goes against a lot of the traditional direction of organized labor in this country and undoubtedly, in the short term, this is a travesty.''
The SEIU represents about 1.3 million U.S. workers, and its history with the AFL-CIO dates to 1921. The Teamsters has about 1.27 million U.S. members, and its affiliation traces to 1903.
The two unions, along with the United Food and Commercial Workers and Unite Here, were already boycotting the AFL-CIO convention being held in Chicago this week.
UFCW President Jim Hansen said yesterday his group of 1.04 million U.S. workers will make a decision ``in a short period of time'' about its affiliation. John Wilhelm, co- president of Unite Here, which represents 441,452 hotel and restaurant workers, said he is ``keeping all options open.''
A `Tragedy'
Sweeney, who is running unopposed for another four-year term on Thursday, earlier today characterized the rift as a ``tragedy for working people.''
The pullout ``makes me very angry,'' Sweeney, 71, said in a keynote speech earlier today at the AFL-CIO's gathering. ``Our future shouldn't be dictated by the demands of any group or the ambitions of any individuals.''
The four dissident unions, along with the Laborers, formed the Change to Win coalition last month. The Laborers and the United Farm Workers, which joined the group last week, say they don't plan to boycott the convention or leave the AFL-CIO and will continue to work with the unions that do leave.
Sweeney and others say a division would hurt the labor movement at its most vulnerable time in 80 years, with antiunion Republicans and companies eager to see labor's demise.
``It would be awful,'' historian Studs Terkel said in an interview last week. ``The last thing labor needs is a split.''
Union Dues
The departure will take a toll on the federation's finances, which last year collected $96 million in dues. The SEIU and Teamsters combined accounted for more than $20 million, according to union spokespeople. The federation's total budget was about $125 million this year, which includes dues and royalties on AFL- CIO credit cards.
This year, the SEIU, Teamsters and UFCW owe the AFL-CIO a combined $8.5 million in back dues, making them ineligible for a seat at this week's convention.
``It's not about the dues, we can pay the dues,'' the UFCW's Hansen said in an interview yesterday. ``But we are concerned about the direction of the organization. They are going down the wrong way in our point of view so we are going to use our money to build a different organization.''
The unions will still be obligated to pay the past dues, AFL- CIO general counsel Jon Hiatt said.
Cooperation
The Change to Win unions have said they will work with the AFL-CIO unions, particularly on issues such as politics, and also have pledged not to raid other unions' members.
``I was hoping we would not have to be here at this event, not being with the entire labor movement,'' Edgar Romney, executive vice president of Unite Here and treasurer of Change to Win, said yesterday. ``But it has come to a point in time where either we stay together with the AFL-CIO and become somewhat complacent or we stand up and fight and fight hard.''
Political Efforts
Defections from the AFL-CIO have occurred before. United Auto Workers President Walter Reuther withdrew his union in 1968 because he opposed the federation's conservative approach to civil rights and the Vietnam War. UAW, one of the AFL-CIO's biggest unions at the time of its departure, rejoined in 1981.
``What makes today's split different is that'' the departure is about strategic differences, said Ruth Milkman, director of the University of California's Institute for Labor and Employment. ``That's significant.''
The federation formed 50 years ago when AFL and CIO leaders reunited after a 1935 rift over whether to organize industrial industries such as automakers. At that time, one of every three U.S. workers was in a union, a figure that began to steadily fall after the AFL-CIO merger.
Sweeney was first elected president in 1995 after blasting his predecessor, Lane Kirkland, for failing to reverse the decline. Supporters and critics alike credit Sweeney for strengthening labor's political efforts even as membership has continued to fall.
Difference of Opinion
The feud over the direction of labor pitted Stern against his former mentor, Sweeney, who headed SEIU before he was elected president of AFL-CIO in 1995.
Stern and his allies say Sweeney is too focused on politics and isn't putting enough money into organizing the more than 85 percent of U.S. workers not in unions.
``We're not enthusiastic with the direction that the movement is going,'' Chuck Mack, a Teamsters vice president said in an interview just prior to today's announcement. ``While we can blame a hostile state and national government, while we can blame an environment that's unfriendly, especially with globalization, we do have the responsibility to look inward, to look at our structure. What our programs and policies are.''
Sweeney says intensifying efforts on politics is crucial in the current ``antiunion'' climate.
``We will rise to the challenge of growth,'' Sweeney said today. ``Yet we know organizing by itself will not win the war on working families -- we also have to silence the guns of greed that are pounding away at working people and our unions.''
