On Revamp: Don’t Freeze Us Out
LOS ANGELES (PAI)—Led by the Coalition of Black Trade Unions, the AFL-CIO’s six 
constituency groups are warning federation leaders grappling with how to revamp 
the labor movement not to freeze women and minorities out while doing so.
They also fear the push, started by Service Employees President Andrew Stern, 
for fewer and larger unions and a top-down more-controlled federation will harm 
the local levels where organizing occurs and where their members have the 
biggest say.
An extensive statement by CBTU—which AFSCME Secretary-Treasurer William Lucy 
chairs—was approved by the constituency groups during the Martin Luther King 
Jr., conference in Los Angeles in mid-January. It says cutting the AFL-CIO 
Executive Council and imposing mergers cuts diversity and hurts labor.
Lucy, one of several African-Americans on the council, is more outspoken. “Our 
fortunes lie at the local level. Most of the national leaders are talking about 
getting a bigger ‘bang for the buck.’ We lose out on this,” he wrote in Black 
Commentator.
One Stern idea is to cut the number of unions from around 60 to 20. The 
Teamsters want to cut the AFL-CIO Executive Council’s size to 20 or fewer. The 
next big meeting on revamping the AFL-CIO was on Feb. 15-17, with state feds and 
CLCs.
The “Unity Statement” by CBTU, the A. Phillip Randolph Institute, the 
Asian-Pacific American Labor Alliance, Pride at Work and the Coalition of Labor 
Union Women says the fight against racism, sexism and homophobia must continue, 
as must the battle against the Radical Right.
“Leadership of labor at all levels must represent the rich diversity of the 
workforce. While there has been some progress over the years, leadership within 
most unions, especially at the highest decision-making levels, does not reflect 
the diversity of its membership,” they said pointedly.
“This presents a problem as unions attempt to represent interests of all 
members. We are concerned about continuing lack of diversity among various 
leadership bodies within the AFL-CIO, affiliated unions, state federations, 
central labor councils, and local unions. 
“We are also concerned about proposals to drastically reduce the size of the 
Executive Council without a strong commitment to maintain and increase 
diversity. Representation of constituency groups must be ensured,” they 
declared.
The groups said labor organizing should emphasize women and minorities. “The 
vast majority of the most successful organizing campaigns have involved people 
of color and women. Studies have shown people of color and women are more likely 
to support union organizing campaigns than other workers,” they noted.
“Yet those responsible for organizing decisions and for leading organizing 
campaigns frequently do not include people of color and women. Also, the 
tremendous challenge to organize people of color in the South, in the Southwest, 
and in diverse urban areas lacks adequate support and resources. 
“Labor should not assume that nonunion workers lack any organization. Indeed, 
many workers of color and immigrant workers participate in their community 
through civic, religious, and other forms of ‘identity-based’ organizations that 
are potential allies of the labor movement,” their statement said.
Making the AFL-CIO more top-down would both hamper those local CLCs and state 
feds where organizing occurs—and where minorities have the most clout—and harm 
ties the AFL-CIO needs to outside community groups to achieve its legislative 
and political goals, the unity statement warned. 
Their groups, the statement said can “build strong, enduring bridges of 
solidarity between unions and civil rights, religious, women’s, immigrant, 
minority and LGBT organizations.”
The groups advocate more industrial targeting and multi-union organizing, to 
help maximize labor’s strength. And they said when those drives come, people of 
color and women” must be “in all decision-making processes to organize the 
unorganized.”
The Unity Statement also said labor should adopt an agenda that emphasizes 
issues minorities and women care about—and that they share with unions: “Defend 
and expand a comprehensive agenda for civil, human, and women’s rights.” 
Organizing and politics “cannot be separated” from that agenda, they declared. 
It should include an end to workplace racial and gender discrimination, 
defending affirmative action and support for pay equity. It also should demand 
an end to violence against women, “full labor rights, legalization, and 
comprehensive reform for all immigrants and a repeal of employer sanctions” and 
“access to all rights and protections of civil society for lesbian, gay, 
bisexual and transgender workers.”
“‘Full Participation’ is more than a worthwhile slogan,” they concluded. “To 
achieve a strong, unified labor movement, we must all fully participate in 
governance and the development of labor’s agenda.” That requires “a commitment 
to diversity.”