Local Unions Want to Work with AFL-CIO

By Mark Bevis on Wednesday, July 27, 2005.

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In Chicago, earlier this week, what was supposed to be a golden anniversary turned into a bitter divorce.

Two of the AFL-CIO's largest Unions have decided to leave the 50 year old Federation and take 3 million members with them.

Other unions may join the exodus.

But in New Hampshire, union locals want to find a way to stick together and work out differences…..if they can.

NHPR's Mark Bevis reports.

This split in the AFL-CIO comes at a time when the number of people in unions has fallen to its lowest level in decades.

Nationwide about 8 percent of workers in the private sector are organized.

Even when you add in government workers, that number jumps to only about 12%.

And those declining numbers have caused a long simmering dispute to boil over.

The dissenters believe the AFL-CIO has not been spending enough resources to recruit new members.

At least two of the federation's largest unions, the Service Employees International and the Teamsters, want out.
And those two unions have significant numbers of members in New Hampshire.

Mark McKenzie, President of the New Hamsphire AFL-CIO admits times are tough for the labor movement.

tape: I quite frankly would much prefer it not happen. I think this is the wrong time to have this kind of fight right now. But the Reality is that this is where we are at today and it will play itself out the way it does.

These splits could cause a serious blow to New Hampshire's AFL-CIO.

The largest single union in the federation is the State Employees Association with nearly 7000 members.

The SEA is part of the lead dissenting union, the Service Employees International.

Gary Smith, President of the SEA, says he saw this split coming and wishes it hadn't turned out this way.

But still, he says, he understands the position of SEIU President Andy Stern.

tape: I too can see the decline, I think it's articulated very well by President Stern. I was hoping to see reconciliation between the SEIU and the AFL-CIO, but that didn't happen and we just move on from here. I know we'll be stronger for it. We're gonna have to be.

But not everyone in the SEIU believes the national leadership is on the right track.

Earl Sweet is President of the SEIU Local 560 in Hanover.

Most of his 500 members are private sector health care workers.

tape: I think it's a big blow to labor in general. I think that when we start splitting ourselves up, it makes us…Andy keeps telling how weak the labor movement is, well he just made it weaker.

Both Sweet and the SEA's Gary Smith want to maintain what they calls a good relationship with the state AFL-CIO.

But that may not be possible.

Delegates at the convention in Chicago have been debating whether to allow unaffiliated locals to be members of the state federations.

According to the Federation's constitution, unaffiliated unions can't join or pay into the state federation.

New Hampshire AFL-CIO President Mark McKenzie:

tape: if in fact it comes down to that they can't be part of the organization that we can't accept per capita tax or things like that, I think it will be difficult for the state federation.

If that policy stands, the state AFL-CIO could suffer a substantial loss of income.
By some measures, that loss could total as much as 25%.

For NHPR News, this is Mark Bevis.