It is my opinion Wal-Mart is probably better off if the SEIU doesn't separate from the AFL-CIO:
"We need to make far-reaching changes and have a leader committed to such changes, and that leader is not John Sweeney," said Andrew L. Stern, president of the service employees union, which has more than 1.7 million members.Why should Wal-Mart want to keep Mr. Stern down? He's been effective:Mr. Stern seeks to push Mr. Sweeney into retirement, but Mr. Sweeney is digging in - and is voicing anger with Mr. Stern, a one-time prot�g�, saying his divisiveness is weakening the movement.
But Mr. Stern's critique of Mr. Sweeney has strong support from four other unions - the Teamsters, the laborers, the food and commercial workers, and Unite Here, which represents hotel, restaurant and apparel workers. The five dissident unions represent more than a third of the membership of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations.
Mr. Stern, whose union has added 600,000 workers in the past decade, has repeatedly said that if the A.F.L.-C.I.O. does not embrace enough change, he will seek to build something better, presumably an organization outside the federation that would seek to attract workers and sympathetic young people.
Posted by Kevin on May, 31 2005 at 10:46 AM
