AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, the center of a storm in the labor movement, was re-elected to a fourth term Wednesday-- just days after the defection of two major unions that sought his ouster. One of those unions-- the Service Employees International Union-- was headed by Sweeney when he was first elected AFL-CIO president in 1995. It joined the Teamsters in leaving the AFL-CIO on Monday.
Sweeney, 71, faced no opposition. In remarks prepared in advance for his acceptance speech, the bus driver's son called the last week "contentious and stressful." "Despite the conflicts and even the divisions we've suffered, I think we all feel a new sense of clarity about our mission and new energy propelling us toward our goals," he said.
| The goals seem to include crashing and burning. It's just as well. The unions are an idea whose time has gone. Graft, corruption, incompetence, and blatant self-interest turned them from organizations that fought for workers — rightly or wrongly, depending on the circumstance — into a mere drag on the economy. |
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