<HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>Labor Party agrees to run its own slate </TITLE> </HEAD> <body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" link="#000099" vlink="#339933"> <div align="center"><center> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="600"> <tr> <td colspan="2"><img src="/banners/mpgnews.gif" width="366" height="60" alt="PG News"><a target=_self href="/cgi-bin/newadredir.asp?category=62&url=http://www.post-gazette.com/pgstore/goguide.asp&script=19981114labor5.asp&dirscript=/regionstate&image=7"><img src=/adimages/goguidead.gif border=0 height=60 width=234 alt="The Pittsburgh GO! Guide"></a></td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width=132> <a href=/default.asp><img src="/menu/pghome.gif" alt="PG Home" width="125" height="22" border=0 onmouseover="window.status='PG Home: Return to our Home Page. 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Politics Editor, Post-Gazette <storysumm> The Labor Party, a fledgling working-class challenger to the nation's and the labor movement's political establishments, took a measured step forward at its national convention in Pittsburgh yesterday, as delegates voted overwhelmingly to begin to endorse and run the party's own candidates for public office. But as the applause over the resolution died down in the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Downtown, answers to the questions of how soon and in what numbers the party's candidates would appear on ballots were still unclear. "I could not predict that," Tony Mazzocchi, the group's chief organizer, said after the vote. "But the challenge is out there now to build a credible organizational base for candidates; we will see how the local chapters respond. The unions here have a vision to build a viable alternative party ... (but) they don't expect lightning to strike tomorrow." After about a decade of organizational groundwork by Mazzocchi and others, the Labor Party was formed two years ago in Cleveland. Its initial focus was exclusively on promoting issues, such as universal access to health care and demands for guaranteed jobs at living wages. Issue-oriented campaigns are likely to remain the group's principal preoccupation in the near future, but the candidate resolution marked a new tactical threshold. The new party draws financial support from several major unions. Organizers would not disclose how many members it represents, but its activity is clearly dwarfed by the mainstream political efforts of major union groups, such as the AFL-CIO. Mazzocchi and other organizers contend, however, that their constituency is potentially larger still -- in the significant percentage of union members and other workers estranged from mainstream politics. United Steelworkers President George Becker gave a welcoming address to the crowd of about 1,200 delegates gathered under murals of labor history and figures such as Mother Jones and John L. Lewis. Becker stressed their common cause against the North American Free Trade Agreement and similar trade accords. Later, he said neither he nor his international union had any position on whether the Labor Party should be running candidates as alternatives to Democrats and Republicans. But another Pittsburgh labor leader, Al Fondy, president of the Pennsylvania Federation of Teachers and vice president of the American Federation of Teachers, argued that their entire approach was wrong-headed and contrary to the real interests of union members. He contended that if the union movement embraced the Labor Party goals, it would marginalize the interests of workers and squander labor's influence in mainstream politics. Of Fondy's criticism, Mazzocchi said: "That's strange for a teacher; he ought to study history. ... We're saying if you try something for 50 years and it doesn't work, you ought to try something else." The Labor Party organizers contend that both the Republican and Democratic parties have become voices for corporate interests. "The bosses already have two parties; the workers ought to have one," said Robert Clark, secretary-treasurer of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers. The resolution adopted after several hours' debate calls for a carefully circumscribed approach to electing candidates. It states that the party will support as candidates only party members who meet a series of ideological and organizational criteria. Candidates who hope for party imprimatur will have to demonstrate that they have sufficient support resources to mount an effective campaign. "It forces people who want to run to run credibly," Mazzocchi said. 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