BY SAM MANUEL
DETROIT - "Developing Strategies to Impact New Political Realities" was the theme of the 24th convention of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU) held here at the end of May. More than 1,600 mostly Black trade unionists attended the convention, representing 77 international unions.
This new reality, according to several CBTU leaders and featured speakers, is the Republican majority in Congress. They argued that the clock would be "turned back" on social gains won by working people in this country, especially those who are Black, if the Republican majority is not defeated in the 1996 elections.
Republican leader Newt Gingrich and the package of Republican-sponsored legislation known as the Contract with America were described by speakers throughout the convention in varying degrees from "conservative" to "ultra-rightist." Several speakers from the floor who presented themselves as being more "radical and militant" argued that the Republican majority in Congress represented the beginnings of fascism.
Gloria Johnson, president of the Coalition of Labor Union Women, called Gingrich a "modern day Joe McCarthy." Matthew Finucane, executive director of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, declared that the goal of the Contract with America is to destroy the legacy of the Democratic-sponsored "New Deal."
Richard Womack, director of the Civil Rights Department of the AFL-CIO, pointed with alarm to the emergence of "right- wing anti-government kooks" who blow up federal buildings. He said that "rightist media commentators disguised as journalists" had inspired conditions that required "turning the White House into a fortress.-Our answer to them is the vote."
1996 elections
The importance of getting out the vote for the Democratic
party in the 1996 presidential elections was the central
strategy presented at the convention.
Shavonne Perpena, a field representative for the American Federation of Labor-Council of Industrial Organizations, encouraged the delegates to "begin now" to prepare for the 1996 elections. James Ferguson of the National Coalition on Black Voter Participation added, "There are important elections in 1995 in which we can get practice for 1996."
Among the many topics discussed at the convention were affirmative action, health care, toxic dumping and the environment, women's rights, and unemployment. The discussions were often followed by the adoption of resolutions supporting Democratic Party legislation and policy on these issues.
Lorell Patterson of the United Paperworkers International Union local 7837 gave a brief address to the convention. She appealed for support for a June 25 demonstration by the union in Decatur, Illinois, against a lockout of the union members by the A.E. Staley Manufacturing Co. Strikers also distributed information from a literature table during that session. No resolution was passed in support of that strike or any other labor struggle during the five-day convention.
Affirmative action
A number of resolutions were passed in support of
affirmative action. But several speakers during a panel on
the topic stressed the need for "defensible" programs.
Norman Hill, president of the A. Phillip Randolph Institute,
said, "We are for affirmative action policies which unite
us. Therefore the AFL-CIO has a long tradition of defending
affirmative action programs without quotas."
Hill denounced what he called the use of affirmative action as a "wedge issue even in the union movement." Several speakers, among them Southern Christian Leadership Conference president Joseph Lowery and William Burrus, executive vice president of the American Postal Workers Union, had made remarks at the convention criticizing the lack of affirmative action measures within the top levels of the AFL-CIO.
A May 9 letter from AFL-CIO president Lane Kirkland to President Bill Clinton calling for continued government support of affirmative action was made available to convention participants.
Ralph Jiminez, president of the Labor Council of Latin American Advancement, compared the attacks on affirmative action to the assaults on the rights of immigrant workers such as Proposition 187 in California. This act attempts to deny undocumented workers and their children access to health care, schools, and other social benefits.
Jiminez said these efforts are aimed at denying Blacks and Latinos the opportunity to enter the middle class, which "our unions have made possible."
Only Jiminez and a few speakers from the floor made any reference to Proposition 187. A resolution on affirmative action and immigrant rights was passed, but made no reference to the anti-immigrant initiative.
Debate on CBTU membership
A sharp discussion ensued on a proposal to allow
unorganized workers to become associate members of the CBTU.
The proposal was supported by delegates from local chapters
in New York and northern California. Associate members would
not hold office or be able to vote.
Supporters of the proposal argued that it would allow young people who make up a large portion of the unorganized workforce to become members of the CBTU. They also argued that the proposal should be adopted because members of other "ethnic" groups were fully participating in the convention.
Several leaders of the CBTU spoke against the proposal, including founding member Charles Hayes who charged that it would put the CBTU in competition with the AFL-CIO.
No discussion was organized on the depression level of unemployment faced by workers who are Black. Delegates received a copy of a recent Bureau of Labor Statistics report that shows Black unemployment remains double that of whites at 10.7 percent. Unemployment for Black youth stands at 35.6 percent.
A resolution submitted by the CBTU Executive Council noted that 100,000 union members have contracts that allow employers to pay below the minimum wage of $4.25 per hour. The resolution called on Congress to pass legislation increasing the minimum wage.
Increased financial aid to the African National Congress- led government in South Africa, support to the popular organizations in Haiti, and for the release of political prisoners in Nigeria were among several international resolutions approved by the convention.
A resolution on U.S. relations with Cuba stated: "For more than 30 years the U.S. has maintained an embargo against Cuba that has harmed the Cuban people by making it difficult for the Cuban people to have adequate food and medical supplies." It called upon Clinton to support a bill sponsored by Democratic congressman Charles Rangel and to "end the embargo and to normalize relations between the U.S. and Cuba.-and allow Americans to travel freely to Cuba."
Other resolutions approved by the convention included opposition to capital punishment and school prayer, and support for statehood for the District of Columbia.