BY GREG ROSENBERG
The shakeup in the top levels of the AFL-CIO officialdom took a new turn June 12, when Lane Kirkland, president of the labor federation for the past 16 years, announced his decision to retire in August. Thomas Donahue, AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer, announced he would stand for the post against a slate headed by John Sweeney, president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). The election will take place at the organization's October convention in New York.
Over the past several months, a growing layer of the officials who sit astride the 84 unions in the federation began to talk of replacing Kirkland. The effort to put on a new face is part of the attempt to protect the eroded dues base of member unions from which these officials derive their privileges and social position. It also stems from their near-total lack of influence in the two capitalist parties.
A New York Times editorial stated that "Mr. Sweeney, like his rival, is a member in good standing of labor's largely white and male old guard." Altering this appearance too is a factor in the high-level machinations, since growing numbers of the union ranks are comprised of women and oppressed nationalities.
SEIU president Sweeney's slate will be filled out by Richard Trumka, president of the United Mine Workers of America, who will stand for secretary-treasurer, and Linda Chavez-Thompson, an international vice president of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, running for executive vice president of the federation, a post to be created soon. Part of the gloss given his candidacy is that his union has grown during a period when others have declined in size.
The Sweeney slate has garnered support from officials of the United Steelworkers of America, United Auto Workers, Teamsters, International Association of Machinists, and other large unions.
Donahue, a Kirkland stalwart for a decade and a half, is also presenting himself as the candidate of "renewal." At press time, Donahue was scheduled to announce that Barbara Easterling, secretary-treasurer of the Communications Workers of America, would be his running mate. Donahue's supporters said June 19 that he would draw support from some union office-bearers previously reported to be backing Sweeney, such as the transit workers, utility workers, and aluminum, brick, and glass workers.
Of his contest with Sweeney, Donahue remarked, "It is more a question of spirit and style than fundamental differences on issues."