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News Briefs

Date Posted: June 27 2005

SEIU OKs break from AFL-CIO
In another ominous sign for the future of organized labor, the executive board of the nation's largest labor union this month gave its leadership the authority to break away from the AFL-CIO, citing a "fundamental and apparently irreconcilable disagreement" over how to rebuild the ailing labor movement.

The executive board of the 1.8 million-member Service Employees International Union authorized its executive committee to decide if and when to "disaffiliate" from the AFL-CIO, though no decision has been made about whether SEIU will leave the federation, spokesman Ben Boyd told the AP's Terence Chea.

The board said it acted after executive boards of local unions representing 70 percent of SEIU membership adopted resolutions authorizing disaffiliation from the AFL-CIO, the national federation of more than 50 unions formed five decades at the height of organized labor's power.

"The union movement must focus on uniting with the 9 out of 10 workers who have no union," the board said in a statement. "We cannot help workers make major advances in each industry as long as the AFL- CIO structure and rules condone and reward union strategies that divide workers' strength in each industry."

Other unions have also threatened to withdraw from the AFL-CIO. John Sweeney, the labor federation's president, is up for re-election next month.

Bush sets plan to distort wages
Despite strong opposition from the public and the union movement, the Bush Administration is moving ahead with plans that economists say would seriously distort the Bureau of Labor Statistics' monthly payroll report, which has consistently shown that most workers' wages are stagnant.

The AFL-CIO reports that the BLS plans to include the salaries of managers, executives and even CEOs in its monthly payroll survey. Including the high salaries in the average would make it look like workers are making more money than they really are.

Finish the job, rally urges GOP
The Michigan AFL-CIO will host a rally on Wednesday, June 29 at the State Capitol in Lansing. Union members, families and friends are invited.

The rally's message is "Tell the state legislature that they can't go on vacation until they:"

  • Raise the minimum wage
  • Increase and extend Unemployment Benefits
  • Vote to create jobs in Michigan.

Sen. John Edwards will be on hand for the rally, which is scheduled from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

"Finish the job: tell the Republican-led legislature that Michigan's working families need them to stay until their work is finished," the AFL-CIO said.