LaborIDyMesa, By JACK HENNING labor movement is hardly a working class move- The 12,000 were doomed as corporate debris. ment but a- Executive Secretary-Treasurer, rather movement ofthe employed mid- Social democracy would forbid that in a. civi- California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO dle class. lized nation. Lane Kirkland once observed that there is no In the years.ofFranklin Roosevelt and succeed- Capitalism was never designed for workers. American working class. ing presidents of his tradition, it would have been Whether in medieval trading or in its 18th Cen- That true in. the social sense. American held an outrageous violation of human rights. industrial it meant worker may be tury origins, workers are not cap touchers to those ofpomp and It is no wonder that American capital has won suppression. privilege. the hostility of the liberated millions of Eastern In the advanced nations of the west, two forces Europe. They are moving left. However, in the economic order,.class lines gov-. rose, in 19th Century resistance: -organized labor On this Labor Day bells should be ring- and political liberalism. ern. The working class lives subject to the consent alarm. of capital. inMi every union hail across the nation. Somehow between the dynamiting of the* Molly The Republican Party with its control of Con- McGuires in the Pennsylvania coal fields and the There is the recent example of the New York gress has released the powers of capitalism socialism of Gene Debs, America awakened to the banking merger'of two corporate giat:. Chase agintlabor, the poor, the minorities,. the aged, class struggle.* Manhattan and Chemical Banking. the haniape and the youth of America. In tandem, labor and liberals provided Ameri- Its perpetrators announced that business is It is the duty oflabor to lead'the counter revolu- can workers with a slice of middle-class eistence. business and that capital required the fring of tion. Either that or rind place in the museums of Indeed it has been argued that the American 12,000 employees in the merged institutions. past glories. Sessions Explore New. Vol. 38-No. 17 September 1. 1995 Tactis Increasing labor's political clout and bringing mopre. workers into the shelter of organized labor were the topics last week as trade unionists DebaeMaes Hstor from throughout the state convened at Los Angeles for a two-day confer- The first-ever public debate be- ence sponsored by the California tween candidates for the presidency Labor*Federation. of the AFL-CIO matched Thomas - more than 350 R. Donahue and John Sweeney Participants registered - had been warned of against each other last week in Los crises in both areas even before Ex- Angeles and involved an overflow ecutive* Secretary-Treasurer Jack audience of trade un1ionists in a fr-ee- Henning introduced the first of the wheeling, open microphone ques- conference speakers* early Thursday tion-and. answer session. afternoon in the Crystal Ballroomn Every seat was filled and of the Biltmore Hotel. standees had crowded in as Jack Thomas R. Donahue and John Henning,, executive secretary-trea- Sweeney, candidates for president of surer of the sponsoring California the AFL-CIO, stressed political ac- Labor Federation, called the session dion and organi*zing*the,unorganized to order at 10 a.m. Thursday, Aug.- during their first public 'debate held 24, in the Crystal Ballroom of the Thursday .morning in the same Biltmore Hotel. location. Three hundred and fifty-two del- Bill Lockyer, D-Hayward, presi- egates from affiliated unions and dent pro temn of the State Senate, councils registered for the two-day who was introduced first -by Hen- state AFL-CIO conference that ning as the afternoon session got opened with the debate. Others, underway, served up a reminder that easily exceeding 100 in number, en- a one-vote Democratic majority in tered on guest credentials or simply the upper house of the* Legislature slipped in to be part of the historic Photo bv David Bacon is all that keeps a deluge of anti- and dramatic occasion. There was-a John Sweeney, left, and Tham Donahue,. right, flank debate Moderator Jack Brig center. worker legislation off the desk of welcome by Jim Wood, executive when Samuel Gompers regained the '"If we compare them to the Bib- president on Aug. 1 by the Execu- Republican Gov. Pete Wilson. secretary-treasurer of the Los An- presidency he had lost to John lical brothers, I cannot say which is tive Council following the-*retire- It means 1996 is a year of critical geles County Federaion of Labor. McBride of the Mine Workers the Cain, although I know that both of ment of Lane Kirland to complete challenge for the labor movement, Henning noted in his introduc- previous year. them are Able," Henning said. a term that expires with.the national he declaredinareview ofthe Sacra- tions that nothing like the debate The California AFL-CIO leader Sweeney, international president convention late next month in New mento scene and an assessment of had taken place in this century And pointed out' that the two present of the Service Employees, spoke York City. Convention delegates political strategies. it was as long ago as 1895, he, candidates truly can be said "to be first, the order being decided by a will elect either Donahue or Lockye Ispok_one Ay_aftr,&far- pointed out, that the last contested union brothers, coming out of the coin toss. He was folowed by Don- Sweeney as president. election for leadership of the Amer- 3ame Service Employees local in ahue, formner secretary-treasurer of Several certainties emerged from ican labor movement took place New York. the AFL-CIO, who was elected (Continued on Page 4) Labor Blunts GOP RecalVWeapo Labor is credited with de- being Central Valle and elsewher&' that gest contributor to right-wing can- railing the attempt* by ultra right- IErgonomics Victory Im-m sent. more than 250 volunteers to didates and causes in California. r wing Republicans to recall Assem- Iperiled in State Senatte. help US." The PACYs is Sen. Rob I bly Member Mike Machado, guiding light 0 r -Page 3 State Senate President'Pro Ibm Hurtt, R-Oange County, who last D-Stockton, and strike fear into the I Bill Lockyer, D-Hayward, congrat- week muscled aside moderate Ken hearts of any -legislator thinking Calaveras Counties Central Labor ulated union members for ""sending Mddy as head of the GOP in the about opposing them. Council. "We put tgther what we a message to those who would mis- Senate, vowing to seize control of Despite a massive and brutally called our L-Abor-to-Labor Program, use the democratic process.". Lock- the upper house in 1996 and clear '0 abusive advertising campaign fi- targeting the 24,000 union mem- yer,* at last week's state away the last obstacle to an ava- nanced with of GOP speakting S I huge injections bers living'within Machado's district AFL-CIO conference in Los An- lanche of'anti-worker legislation., U, cash fr-om other areas, San Joaquin through. precinct-walking, direct geles., added, that he doubted the I County voters retained Machado mail and bank I.] phone operations. super-conservatives would give up Willie L. Brown, Jr., Assembly I and rejected the right-wing's new "4Union mnembers responded with totally on* recall elections until their speaker emeritus, also praised "the intimidation tactics by a margin of eight-to-one support. Machado won money runs out hundreds of trade unionists from all nearly two-to one in the special by a two-to-one margin.,- and,'the Their financial resources are, in over the state who traveled to Stock- election held Thesday, Aug. 22. union vote* was. decisive," Beno' fact, considerable. A major backer ton in their identifying jackets and ."Organized labor pulled together declared. of the Machado recall. was the caps"' and matched volunteer, per- on this one," said Jimn Beno, secre- ""We want to thank again all the American Business Political Action son-to-person camppigning against tary-treasurer of the San Joaquin- labor councils in the Bay Area, Committee, which is by far the big- the big money of the Republicans. Maria Elena Durazo, left, and fuinereal figure lead L.A. protest aistm demnands by new owners of Bonaventure Hotel;pabers,lf,eveomr HERE 'Funeral' Wllarns Downtwi wan.A A mock funeral procession razo spelled out the impending Group, a family-owned, Taiwanese for thousands. through downtown Los Angeles crisis.I ployment, the size and facilities of the Bona- investment company. The downtown tourist industry; venture, will goelsewhere if the ho- served notice last week. that hotel The Bonaventure, which employs FIT is conces- still in the wake of the workers will fight to preserve their Group demanding suffering tel's new owners precipitate a labor more than 1,000 workers repre- sions from the Local 11 city-wide 1992 riots, is increasingly depen- dispute.t collective bargaining contracts at sentedby Local 11I and several other collective bargaining contract that dent upon business the the Bonaventure and warned the is from generated by Local 11 spokespersons said their unions, being purchased Eq- would impri hard-won job secu- Convention Center A big portion of union was continuimig to seek mean- business community that a major uitable Life Assurance Co. by FIT benefits and conditions of that labor dispute at the hotel could rity; em-. business, currently atatdby ingful negotiations with FIT Group. jeopardize the city's frile conven- tion industry. The procession started at the Bonaventure, whose distinctive cy- Marchers Arrested.. in -protest at S.F. .Hotel lindrical glass-clad towers contain A dozen hotel workers 'and and the Rev.