At 5:35 PM -0500 12/5/02, Nathan Newman wrote:
>"The amount of money allotted to ACILS for work in Venezuela is
>relatively small and could be dismissed as insignificant. And the
>AFL-CIO statement about ACILS work in Venezuela states that all the
>funds were used only for "printing of election materials, the
>training of CTV election committees, and the sponsoring of forums
>which brought labor, business, human rights and religious leaders
>together in defense of freedom of association." Further, the
>statement "unequivocally condemned the coup attempt of April 12th."
>(34)"
>
>Much hand waving before and after this paragraph, but the basic reality,
>undisputed by any other report, is that's what the AFL-CIO was doing--
>helping in making the internal CTV elections more democratic.
"This sounds innocuous, even laudable. However, clearly such 'internal elections' had not been carried out up to that time, during the many years prior to Chávez's presidency. Even the statement issued by the AFL-CIO about the events in Venezuela said that in October and November 2001, CTV members voted in the 'first one-member-one vote, secret ballot union election in Venezuelan history'" (Karen Talbot, "Coup-making in Venezuela: the Bush and Oil Factors," @ <http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/TAL206A.html>). I'd think that ACILS monies must have been usefully spent to bolster the powers of corrupt union leaders in Venezuela before and during the "first one-member-one vote, secret ballot union election in Venezuelan history." You can't allow a one-member-one-vote, secret ballot union election to choose new leaders of AFL-CIO either. Such an idea is clearly dangerous, not just for Venezuela, but also for the USA, just in case American workers might hear about an exercise of union democracy down south to "throw the bums out," to borrow a slogan from Argentina's popular rebellion.
Even some of those who criticized Chavez admitted the necessity of the reforms that his administration introduced:
***** Venezuela
Chavez hit on Trade unions
IPS Inter Press Service 2000-11-14: Fight against corruption hits trade unions.
By Andrés Cañizález
Venezuela's biggest trade union, the Workers Confederation (CTV), is the latest target of President Hugo Chávez's ''peaceful revolution'' and fight against corruption.
The governing Fifth Republic Movement (MVR), which has a majority in parliament, and two other parties agreed to call a Dec 3 referendum ''to re-found the corrupt trade union movement'' -- the new political banner of Chávez, a former paratrooper officer who first shot into the limelight when he staged an abortive coup in 1992. ''No one can be opposed to greater participation by the trade union movement, and to uprooting corruption, but this is not the way to achieve those aims,'' Professor José Ignacio Arrieta, an expert in labour issues, told IPS.
According to opinion polls, trade unions are among the least-credible and least-respected institutions in Venezuela. Their image is badly tarnished by frequent allegations of illegal commissions shelled out in the awarding of contracts, the seemingly perpetual rule of trade union leaders, and the view of the unions as far removed from the concerns and realities of workers....
The government has set its sights on the CTV, which was dominated for many years by Democratic Action, the party most frequently in power in the past 42 years.
The Workers Documentation and Research Centre (CENDA) pointed out to IPS that trade union affiliation was low, with only 12.6 percent of the economically active population of 9.9 million organised in unions.
More specifically, 58 percent of public sector employees belong to unions, compared to a mere six percent of private sector workers, according to CENDA figures....
MVR parliamentary Deputy Nicolás Maduro, one of the driving forces behind the government offensive to overhaul Venezuela's labour unions, said the referendum scheduled for December was just one aspect of the campaign, which also entails passage of a new law on the ''Protection of Trade-Union Guarantees and Freedoms.''
Although he is opposed to the referendum, Arrieta agreed that the new law was necessary for clearly establishing mechanisms for the free election and removal of trade union leaders....
<http://www.dagensarbete.se/home/da/home.nsf/pages/0D0334BAB10535C1412569970036A675?OpenDocument> *****
As for the United States:
***** INTERVIEW WITH 1199's DENNIS RIVERA by Jim Smith
...Q. What's your opinion on the leadership change in the AFL-CIO?
Rivera: It's a wonderful thing that for a change there is a challenge in the leadership of the AFL-CIO. I think there should be direct election of the president of the AFL-CIO. We did a poll about a year ago and found out that less than one percent of the American working people knew who Lane Kirkland was.
If there was a direct election for the leader of the working people of the United States, it would be incredible. At the end of the process, the whole country would be energized. The labor movement would come alive.
<http://www.lalabor.org/Dennis_Rivera.html> *****
***** Direct election of Officers Not on the Agenda Trusteeship Ends in AFSCME DC 37
by Kim Moody April 2002
After three years, AFSCME has ended its trusteeship over its District Council 37, which represents 125,000 New York City public employees in 56 local unions.
AFSCME President Gerald McEntee imposed the trusteeship after revelations of financial misdoings, outright scams with union money, and stuffing the ballot box to pass a concessionary contract in 1998. Some 20 local leaders were convicted of embezzlement, vote fraud, and taking kickbacks, with two serving prison time. DC 37 Executive Director Stanley Hill was deposed.
Lee Saunders, who ran DC 37 during the trusteeship, announced its end on February 26 as the 24 local union presidents who compose DC 37 voted unanimously to make Lillian Roberts their new executive director....
The new DC 37 officers, however, will receive the same inflated salaries as those dismissed in shame. Like Stanley Hill, Roberts will draw $250,000 a year. Mark Rosenthal, president of Motor Vehicle Operators Local 983 and the reformer who first blew the whistle on corruption, will earn $180,000 as DC 37 Treasurer on top of his $38,000 salary as local president.
The direct election of DC 37 officers, proposed by some during the trusteeship, was rejected by Saunders and has not been mentioned by Roberts.
"They considered every kind of reform but the one that might make them accountable-the direct election of officers," one DC 37 local officer said.
<http://www.labornotes.org/archives/2002/04/c.html> *****
***** Can Labor meet the challenge? by Jim Smith
...All the problems in labor's closet should be put on the table. Should unions have the same president for 20 - 30 years? Should there be direct election of all union leaders, including international presidents and leaders of the AFL-CIO? Should members have the absolute right to elect union stewards and bargaining committee members and vote on their contract settlement? Should the secret ballot be used in all elections? Should all delegates to the highest labor body, the AFL-CIO convention, have to stand for election instead of attending by virtue of holding another labor position?...
<http://www.lalabor.org/labor_challenge.html> ***** -- Yoshie
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