Time for a Frank, Heart-to-Heart Talk
About the AFL-CIO and its Members

By Harry Kelber

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler did not challenge any of the charges I made about them in my LaborTalk article of June 22, which stated:

• Shuler did not perform any of the duties of secretary-treasurer for the past 10 months, since she won the AFL-CIO’s No. 2 spot in a sham, uncontested election as the hand-picked candidate of the Federation’s Executive Council.
• While spending full time on her commitment to unionize young workers and arranging the Young People’s Summit on June 10-13, Shuler was on the AFL-CIO payroll as secretary-treasurer at a salary of $238,976 a year plus a 60 percent retirement pension.
• Trumka forced the withdrawal of a rival candidate to Shuler to save her from having to compete in a real election in 2009, instead of being elected by acclamation.

In any organization, such accusations would cause intense discussion from supporters and critics alike. There would undoubtedly be calls for an investigation. The print and electronic media would at least mention the nature of the charges and follow the story, as long as it had public interest.

The membership would raise practical questions, such as: who is running the organization, while the scandal has still not been resolved? How is the payroll problem being handled? Is it true that the organization is still dripping red ink, and what is being done about it?


The Trumka Faction Acts as  If It Owns the AFL-CIO
But none of this happened in the AFL-CIO,  Trumka and Shuler have  refused to respond to the charges. Why should they? No one can force them to speak up. Trumka and his pals act as though the AFL-CIO is their personal property. They can—and do-- spend our dues money in whatever way they want to, without telling us how or why And we never seem to complain.

The labor media played along with Trumka. They did not mention a word about the charges, even though, by any measure, the scandal is a newsworthy story. They have never printed any story that even remotely criticizes the AFL-CIO leadership. And yet, they   consider themselves as practitioners of an unbiased ”free press.”

And what about the AFL-CIO Executive Council? Its 51 members have kept completely silent, refusing to discuss, or even mention, the charges against Trumka and Shuler. And why haven’t they created a Committee on Ethical Practices to hear cases like the charges against AFL-CIO’s two top leaders?

And what about the labor activists and rank-and-file unionists? Less than a handful commented on the scandal, as though the issue of corruption in leadership is not worth talking about. Indeed, union members have become so  anesthetized  about corruption and incompetence among their top leaders, that they rarely complain about them. It is incredible how little, if anything, union members get for the years they keep on paying their dues. money.

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Years ago, AFL-CIO leaders decided that the best way to handle dissidents like me was to treat them like pariahs in the labor movement, never mentioning their names  in print and ignoring their opinions.  I can’t recall being  even mentioned in a 1995 election story  when I was the only rank-and-file candidate ever to actually run for a seat on the Executive Council.

 This week, I passed my 96th birthday, and am still working for honest unionism and union democracy, hoping that many union men and women will follow my example.

I am a member of a CWA local union and deeply resentful at being treated as a second-class member by AFL-CIO officials in Washington and elsewhere.

I was a union organizer and strike leader long before Rick Trumka was born, and I insist on being treated with respect.—Harry Kelber