>While not all young activists are hard-core union advocates, you almost
>never hear the contempt a Cockburn or others do for union leaders looking
>out for the wage interests of their members.
Cockburn is totally supportive of Steelworkers president George Becker, who claims the WTO should be "scrapped" and who sent his troops to join in with the blockade of the Seattle ministerial. John Sweeney, on the other hand, is open to legitimate criticism.
What does Sweeney stand for? He wants to keep China out of the WTO. He wants laws to prevent child labor and slave labor. He wants basic worker-safety requirements. He wants sanctions against countries that deny the right to organize. In short, he wants to be a player in a reformed WTO.
As Doug pointed out, Clinton will not agree to implement genuine labor standards. That is, he won't allow regulations that will actually bring on parity in global labor markets. After all, this would derail the whole neo-liberal project. You can't have real standards in a system that functions by exacerbating and exploiting inequality. Clinton is not going to budge on this. He will talk the good talk, but he won't allow anything substantial to get through. How do you think Sweeney is going to deal with this situation? Is he going to hold out for justice, or is he going to sign off on some phony deal that enhances his own prestige while selling out impoverished people the world over?
No doubt he is looking out for the interests of union members. He certainly doesn't want American workers in competition with child labor or unregulated workplaces. He'll try to strike a deal that offers limited protection for American workers and relieves foreign workers from some of the most obnoxious abuses. Meanwhile poverty will continue increasing throughout the South as the "free market" continues destroying local economies and turning farmers and crafts-people into refugees of world trade.
The "blue-green" alliance is a wonderful thing. But just as importantly, we need a North-South alliance. Sweeney stands with Clinton and Gore, not with the primary victims of global capital.
Ted