AFL-CIO & WTO& Yale

[Tom Lehman]

The new issue of Steelabor has a nice letter in it from Dave Montgomery
Professor Emeritus at Yale.  Dave compliments the Steelworkers for our
international solidarity efforts.  He also compliments the Steelabor crew for
the fine job they are doing in reporting on the struggles of working people that
are kept out of the commercial press and TV.

I'm sure Mike Yates remembers Dave from his days at Pitt and could give you a
little more detail on this interesting guy.

Tom Lehman

Doug Henwood wrote:


> I just spoke with someone with good contacts within the AFL-CIO who
> says the Seattle Weekly article I forwarded here the other day - the
> one reporting that labor had pretty much withdrawn from the WTO
> battle - is hogwash circulated by self-aggrandizing Naderites who
> want to position themselves as the authentic militants (and cardboard
> dinosaurs are an important part of any such strategy). The major
> difference, says my source, between the AFL-CIO and the other groups
> is that the Federation wants labor standards incorporated into any
> new trade agreements, and the others don't because to do so would
> lend the WTO legitimacy, when all they want to do is snuff the WTO
> entirely.
>
> I'm not vouching for the truth of any of this, but it seems worth reporting.
>
> Doug