AFL-CIO president blasts globalization (kind of)

[Dace]

>>On Behalf Of Dace
>>
>>>"The violence was a relatively small group of agitators,"
>>> Sweeney said. "We had
>>>an organized march of somewhere between 40,000 and 50,000, and it was as
>>> orderly a march as one could ever see."
>>
>> Genuine agitation seems to make Sweeney uneasy.
>
>Yeah, right.  Sweeney as head of SEIU has led campaigns that have blocked
>bridges coming into downtown DC, provoked mass arrests by janitors across
>the country, most notably in the Los Angeles Century City fight where
>blocking streets by SEIU members and supporters led to a police riot
against
>them (including a later $2.3 million payout to SEIU and the victims).  And
>the result was that over 85% of the Century City janitors were unionized
>within the next few years.
>
>When Sweeney was running against Tom Donahue for head of the AFL-CIO,
>Donahue attacked Sweeney for this history, saying "street fights ... [are]
a
>formula for disaster." Sweeney argued that labor had to be out there
>"blocking bridges" where
>Donahue's call was for "building bridges."
>
>What is "genuine agitation"?  Again, this "lefter-than-thou" stuff is
>incredibly arrogant.  How many mass arrests have you organized?
>
>-- Nathan Newman
>

Do you have to make everything so personal?  Sweeney has demonstrated his
willingness to agitate against corporations, but he lost his nerve when the
enemy was not merely this employer or that employer but US state
imperialism.  Why didn't he support the blockade of the Washington State
Convention Center in Seattle?  Why didn't he direct his labor march right
into the heart of the protest?  The fact that he is indeed willing to engage
in street fights only goes to show that his unwillingness in this situation
indicates that when it comes to the White House, he will not pick a fight.

Sweeney understands the limits of his role in the Washington power system.
And it's a useful role.  To avoid the first contradiction of capitalism,
workers need to earn reasonably good money.  This is clearly Sweeney's
objective, to enhance worker prestige within the context of the global
imperialist project.  Despite the internationalism, it's not really that
different from the Cold War AFL-CIO.

Ted Dace