The big news to come out of the annual winter meeting of the AFL-CIO Executive Council was the endorsement of President Obama. That endorsement comes from the labor federation's General Board; the Executive Council, a subset of the General Board and the governing body of the AFL-CIO, has adopted a series of policy statements that comment broadly—and, for the AFL-CIO, definitively, standing not just as quick responses to events but as considered statements of policy—on important issues of the day from overturning Citizens United to supporting comprehensive immigration reform and women's reproductive health care.
Broad statements on Fixing What is Wrong with Our Economy and Organizing and Growth sketch out a vision for the economy and for unions. To "fix what is wrong with our economy,"
What we need now is an economic program as serious and far-reaching as the problem President Obama has correctly diagnosed. We must start by shifting the focus of U.S. economic policy from one of maximizing the competitiveness and profitability of corporations that happen to maintain headquarters somewhere on U.S. territory to one of maximizing the competitiveness and prosperity of the human beings who live and work in America.
The AFL-CIO proposes massive "productive public investment" in education, energy, transportation, manufacturing, infrastructure and more, all paid for by letting the Bush tax cuts expire and imposing new or increased taxes on capital gains, financial speculation and income greater than $1 million. Related, we have to rein in the financial sector and expand and support manufacturing. Additionally, "it is essential that we tackle the problems of wage stagnation and economic inequality," by increasing and indexing the minimum wage and reforming labor law, among other things.
Organizing workers is, of course, the mission of the union movement, and it's a mission that's under attack from Republicans and corporations across the board. The statement on "Organizing and Growth" affirms the need to fight for union and non-union workers at every level, legislatively and in on-the-ground campaigns:
Nothing is more central to our work than mobilizing and organizing on the side of workers seeking to form unions and build power by engaging in collective bargaining. We must trumpet this call as part of our legislative and policy agendas at federal and state legislative bodies. We must work to expand collective bargaining rights and reform labor laws to ensure that all workers who want to form unions and bargain collectively have a fair opportunity to do so.
At the same time, as we execute our ambitious legislative and policy agendas, we cannot overlook the overarching imperative of standing with workers seeking to join our movement now. We must re-dedicate and recommit ourselves to supporting workers’ campaigns, because we cannot wait for politicians to fulfill promises or for favorable legislation to be enacted. Standing still and waiting are not acceptable.
Anti-worker forces certainly aren't standing still and waiting, and their assault requires unions and workers to be creative and tireless in the fight for rights in the workplace, decent wages, and a voice in the economy and in governance. That is the big-picture struggle; see below the fold for what the AFL-CIO Executive Council had to say about some of the components of that fight.
The Executive Council called for Citizens United to be overturned and corporate personhood to be abolished:
We support reforms, including changes to our tax laws and corporate laws, that address corporate dominance of our political system and that restore corporations to their proper role in our democracy.
Congress should pass and the Supreme Court should uphold the necessary reforms to protect our democracy from the power of money. As long as Citizens United remains the law of the land, constitutional change may be the only option. Amending the U.S. Constitution should be a rare act, done with the greatest of care. To earn our support, any such amendment must be carefully and narrowly crafted to protect our democracy from the economic power of the 1%, while at the same time protecting the public’s right to organize politically through democratic organizations and movements.
They reaffirmed the AFL-CIO's support for women's right to
reproductive health care:
The denial of contraceptive coverage is seen as discrimination against women and an attack on workers’ right to basic health coverage. The right to quality health care has deteriorated into an attack on the character of women who want nothing more than to have a personal decision in the matter. [...]
As the AFL-CIO, we commit to ensuring that women have the right to quality health care, including equal access to contraception, and have the ability to exercise that right regardless of where they work.
(It is worth noting that the Executive Council is overwhelmingly male; the gender composition of the body is hopefully a work in progress, but at least they're speaking out for equality.)
Arguing that Social Security is not itself in crisis but is instead the answer to the retirement security crisis Americans are facing, they say:
While Social Security is an obvious solution to the crisis, its current benefit levels are too modest. Social Security’s income replacement rate is one of the lowest of all the industrialized countries. To compensate for the decline of traditional pensions and the loss of retirement savings, Social Security retirement benefits must be increased across the board, which would be especially meaningful for low-income seniors. In addition, Social Security COLAs need to take into account the higher health care costs faced by seniors. Finally, too many employers look for ways around making their contributions to Social Security through labeling their workers as independent contractors.
They condemned
anti-immigrant laws in Alabama and elsewhere and doubled down on the AFL-CIO's support of the
DREAM Act, supporting state DREAM Acts and singling out Maryland's law, which is under attack from the right:
The failure of the U.S. Congress to act has left a dangerous policy void which the states, reflecting the desperation of the American people, are attempting to fill. Some states—Alabama and Arizona, to name just two—are implementing mean-spirited and punitive bills that make the situation worse, and which the labor movement has strongly opposed. Others, like Maryland, have adopted in-state tuition bills that bring hope and modest relief for a small segment of the population. We will support state-level efforts like the Maryland DREAM Act, but make no mistake: These are not complete solutions. Congress must pass comprehensive immigration reform.
They argued for the expansion of
overtime protections, contesting current efforts to roll back overtime protections for some workers.
This series of statements reminds us that while the AFL-CIO has endorsed President Obama and will endorse many other politicians this year, its goals go beyond what any of those politicians are likely to seriously fight for, and won't be fought only in elections or legislation but reach into every corner of the lives of working people.