1-23-06, 9:27 am

In a speech delivered last week to the National Press Club, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney laid out a comprehensive economic reform program. Sweeney denounced the 'perfect storm of outsourcing, off-shoring, tax evasion, layoffs, work speedups, wage cuts, health care cuts, pension cuts, shifting risks, bashing unions and short-changing communities' that are the hallmarks of the Bush administration’s economic policy and right-wing political philosophy.

Sweeney called for a revival of the US labor movement, intensification of labor’s legislative and political advocacy, strengthening labor’s ties to non-union groups in local communities, and for continuing the push for universal health care, a fair minimum wage, protection of Social Security and Medicare, and an end to corruption in government.

Sweeney noted a long trend in the 'the destruction of good jobs in our country' and argued that it makes little sense in the long run for corporations to advocate tax, trade, and wage policies that kill good jobs for the sake of higher short-term profits.

Comparing the contemporary political climate to the 1920s, Sweeney pointed out that 'the only other time in modern history when the White House, the Supreme Court and both houses of Congress ALL were controlled by one anti-expansion, anti-working family, anti-union political party' preceded the worst depression in US history. Sweeney added, 'Our country was headed in the wrong direction then, so we took back control and charted a new course that spread the wealth and regulated the excesses of big business. It is time to take control again.'

Sweeney also accused President Bush of misleading Americans about the real condition of the economy. Bush recently boasted about the economy's performance, downplaying weak job creation and ignoring shrinking real wages, to say nothing about major systemic problems such as mounting personal debt and skyrocketing health care costs that are eroding family savings.

Sweeney offered an alternative State of the Union message with a comprehensive economic reform package that he said President Bush isn't likely to talk about.

Sweeney stated that if he had to deliver the State of the Union speech to Congress, he'd start by admitting that the economy is failing to create jobs fast enough to match the growth of the workforce – a fact that President Bush has simply ignored.

The administration's economic and tax policies have created a climate that has enabled corporations to move jobs overseas. Under Bush, 2 million jobs in the manufacturing sector alone have disappeared; 31 million workers have been effectively displaced since 1985.

Sweeney said the crisis facing working families requires a combination of reforms: Corporations that receive government subsidies should be required to keep jobs here. The right to organize or join unions should be protected by passage of the Employee Free Choice Act. Trade agreements should include workers’ protections for all the countries involved. Merchandise manufactured in sweatshops anywhere should be outlawed. The US should provide effective economic assistance and debt relief to developing countries. Congress should pass a universal health care coverage plan. More should be spent on job training and education for workers and students. The federal minimum wage needs to be raised from $5.15 an hour to $7.25. Corporations who use the bankruptcy courts to avoid contractual obligations, such as providing pensions and other benefits to their employees, while providing tens of millions of dollars annually to their executives should be exposed and penalized. Sweeney promised stepped-up political activity to raise the minimum wage, to pass universal health care, and to block re-election of anti-worker politicians. He noted that with 208 co-sponsors in Congress, the Employee Fair Choice Act has a good chance of passing even in a Republican dominated Congress.

While Sweeney's outline of this major policy and activist program represents a great start for reversing the failed policies of the right-wing agenda, there were two key points that directly affect working families on which the labor leader reserved deeper discussion: the war in Iraq and immigration policy.

Though Sweeney described the war as having been 'started the wrong way in the first place,' he did not echo a resolution of the AFL-CIO national convention last summer which called for the 'rapid withdrawal' of US forces.

This is an important omission as working families suffer the largest burdens during war time. It is their family members who are sent away, are wounded, and are killed. In a war started on lies and waged under severe Bush administration misleadership, working families have paid too high a price already.

Additionally, while Sweeney also implied the need to protect the rights of immigrant workers, he did not mention the disgusting Republican bill passed recently in the House. The GOP bill, which is little more than a major attack on the Constitution, would make immigration without proper documentation a felony and would criminalize anyone – including family members, charity organizations, churches, social services, schools – who might assist them in any way. The bill specifically targets Mexicans and their families for imprisonment or deportation with limited access to due process or fair hearings.

Sweeney did not mention that amnesty for undocumented immigrants and protections for the right of all workers to organize for better wages and benefits have been the backbone of the AFL-CIO's immigration reform policy for several years. This more balanced perspective is the basis for strengthening wages across the board and for blocking the corporate strategy of pitting workers against each in a race to lower wages.

The Republican plan (passed in the House as H.R. 4437), which targets workers and their families by nationality, essentially leaves corporations who knowingly hire undocumented workers off the hook, and does nothing about 'free' trade policies that pit workers of all countries against each other in a race to the bottom, is nothing but pandering to extremist, racist elements in the Republican's political base.

It is a policy that blames and punishes working people for bad economic policies the Republicans and their corporate sponsors helped to craft.

Still, Sweeney's counter to Bush's likely State of the Union is a strong start for much-needed and comprehensive economic reform.



--Joel Wendland is managing editor of Political Affairs and may be reached at jwendland@politicalaffairs.net.