Breakaway unions meet in St. Louis to form new federation

ST. LOUIS -- Leaders from unions that broke away from the AFL-CIO pledged Tuesday to organize Wal-Mart workers and reach out to those who lost their jobs due to Hurricane Katrina.

The Change to Win Coalition met for its founding convention in St. Louis. In between official business -- adopting a new constitution and electing leaders of the new labor federation -- the event took on a rally-like atmosphere for the 460 delegates. They often stood and cheered speeches by labor leaders or comments from workers who recounted their own battles.

Teamsters president James P. Hoffa and UNITE HERE president Bruce Raynor called on the coalition to organize workers at Wal-Mart, the nation's largest retailer.

Wal-Mart "contributes nothing to America but more poverty and they've got to be stopped," Raynor said.

Labor leaders said they weren't just repeating the same old message about Wal-Mart, but formulating plans to help those workers gain the right to organize.

"You bet your life there's a renewed commitment," Raynor said at a news conference.

Wal-Mart officials said the average employee earns twice the federal minimum wage, and three quarters of its store management team began as hourly workers.

Hoffa also said the new coalition will do what it can to assist hundreds of thousands of workers who lost their jobs when their Gulf Coast communities were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

The seven unions -- including the Teamsters, Service Employees International Union, and the United Food and Commercial Workers -- represent about 5.4 million workers.

The unions recently left the AFL-CIO, which has about 8.8 million members, charging that the nation's largest labor federation was unable to halt declining membership.

They argued that the AFL-CIO should shift emphasis from backing political candidates to organizing new members.

The new coalition is positioning itself in Hoffa's words, as "a lean, mean organizing machine."

The organization is calling for its leadership strength to come from its affiliates, not the federation, though the group will have an executive office, a strategic organizing center and a central organizing fund.

Its budget will come from charging its international unions 25 cents per capita for each union member. It plans to spend 75 percent on organizing and 25 percent on executive functions.

A worker attending the gathering, Georgia Lambert, 58, of Kansas City, said she liked what she was hearing about a commitment to diversity and greater organizing.

"It's a little bit different today. Everyone seems to be going forward, ready to burst, ready to go," Lambert said.

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said in a statement that everyone in the union movement supported the same things, a tremendous increase in organizing and political action by working people.

He said the money Change to Win saved from leaving the AFL-CIO would be small compared to the cost of organizing and hadn't warranted the split.

"Their way leaves all working people weakened and vulnerable, not stronger," he said.