(00:00:00) Lane Kirkland was elected AFL-CIO president in 1979 after more than 30 years of Union work. He is only the second president. The AFL-CIO has ever had he came to office at a time. When due to Major restructuring of the economy labor was losing strength. Among traditional blue-collar Industries while gaining strength with white collar and service workers. His task is to rebuild the political potency of organized labor and build a new basis for union membership and Union affiliation in our economy. President Kirkland joined the research staff of the AFL in 1948 during the next 10 years. He held a variety of post for the AFL and the AFL-CIO including assistant director of social security for the AFL-CIO. He joined the international Union of operating engineers as director of research and education in 1958 two years later. He returned to the AFL-CIO as executive assistant to President George meany a post he held until his election as secretary treasurer in 1969 president Kirkland has a been appointed to several presidential commissions, including the presidential commission to study social security in 1983 and the national bipartisan Commission on Central America in 1984 among the board's he serves on our the American Council on Germany American Arbitration Association, the Rockefeller Foundation International Broadcasting. Council on Foreign Relations the national Planning Association and the National Endowment for democracy Kirkland graduated from The u.s. Merchant Marine Academy in 1942 and served throughout World War II as a deck officer aboard many Merchant vessels. And he was license as a master Mariner near the end of the war. He took evening courses at Georgetown University School of Foreign Service for which he received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1948. He has been awarded honorary degrees from duke Princeton and Columbia universities. He loves America. He loves the labor movement. He's a champion of the world free trade labor movement wherever it exists. It's my pleasure to introduce to you at this time, president Lane Kirkland of the national AFL-CIO Thank you. (00:02:52) I want to thank Dave Row for that generous introduction. President Keller and Dean Cleveland for giving me this forum and Kurt called sinful footing the bill. But if your purpose was to provide a platform for an individual who is influence public policy you might be wondering whether given the results of the 84 elections. You're getting your money's worth today. To which I would respond that elections only tell us who won and who lost. For a very short while until the next round, they don't tell us who was wrong and who was right for that. We rely on history. I suggest that history is already. Prove that labor was right in 1968. When it shows Hubert Humphrey over other contenders for the Democratic nomination. And then over Richard Nixon. the struggle for the presidency of the United States How much better off the nation would have been how much grief and Trauma it would have been spared if it had followed Labour's lead then? History will also prove labor right in 1984. For having chosen another man from Minnesota over a different candidate from (00:04:32) California. (00:04:42) And when history's judgment is finally rendered on that election. The labor movement and the people of Minnesota will both be able to look back on their choice with a clear conscience. Of course the labor movements ties to Minnesota a broader and deeper than that. We are proven supporters of this institute. Just as labor was a lifelong friend and Ally of the Man For Whom The Institute is named. The friendship in fact started here. When Hubert Humphrey helped organize a teacher's Union on this (00:05:24) campus, (00:05:26) it carried through his term as mayor. when he brought the modern democratic-farmer-labor party into being And with the support of Philip Marie, who was then president of the CIO? Wrested control of the party of the state party away from communist elements. The bonds were strengthened by Hubert Humphreys here Roy called the conscience of the 1948 Democratic Convention. Where he raised the banner of civil rights? And they were further cemented when he introduced the first piece of legislation on Medicare in 1949. From his first proposal for a Peace Corps and the food for peace program and the late 50s on through the landmark environmental and arms control debates of the 1970s. Labor stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Hubert Humphrey in all the major battles. Today his Humane hand can still be felt and nearly every benign aspect of our government. And we can only Marvel at the fact that he did it all without ever becoming president. Throughout his career. He had Labor's steadfast support. In his autobiography. He credited labor with getting him started in politics. When to Minnesota members of the American Federation of Labor approached him with the idea of running for mayor. So, please indulge those of us in the labor movement when we take special pride and his great legacy to (00:07:13) America. (00:07:23) But I haven't come here today to talk about the past. Even though that is where many of Labor's critics would like to leave us. My topic today is the future. As Hubert Humphrey what's once said the future is all that is left. And despite what you may have read or heard unions in America do indeed have a future. Everything that the crepe hangers are saying about the labor movement today we've heard before. In remarks to the American economic Association some years back. a certain eminent Professor from Johns Hopkins University said the trade unionism was of and I'm quoting. lessening importance in American economic organization I see no reason to believe that American Trade unionism will so revolutionize itself within a short period as to become in the next decade a more potential social influence than it has in the past unquote. Trade unionist did not believe the professor's prognostications when they were added in 1932. When we had some two million members. And we don't believe them today when I ranks number 13 and 1/2 million. but in deflating the doomsayers We do not mean to minimize the difficulties facing the labor movement today. And we do mean to overcome them. At the top of the list is chronic high unemployment. To some it may seem strange to talk about high unemployment when we have seen the official jobless rate dropped by one-third over the last three years. And when supply-side medicine men are boasting of having created millions of new jobs. But let us put the current employment picture in perspective even today at the peak of the supposed. Boom unemployment is higher than at the very depths of the 1971 recession. The official rate is 7.2 percent. But that doesn't count those who have become too discouraged to look for work and it doesn't count part-time workers who want full-time jobs. Include them in the real rate of unemployment jumps to 12.6% a reserve Army of the unemployed makes it difficult for unions to organize and to bargain. And it always has. And it makes it tempting for employers to indulge their fantasies of getting rid of a union. Many years ago the robber baron Jay Gould claimed that he could hire half the working class to kill the other half. some employers apparently still believe that and they see Heavy unemployment is the ideal condition for testing the theory. These employment statistics are evidence of other forces at work on the American economy and American society. The labor movement may feel their effects most acutely. But the problems they create not only our problems. They are your problems. They will touch each and every one of you. Three decades ago a third of the workforce was directly engaged in manufacturing. Today is any visitor to Minnesota's Iron Range. Well nose. Only a fifth of the workforce earned its paychecks in our basic Industries. During the same period the number of Americans in service jobs has nearly doubled from 12% three decades ago to 22% today. Some of this is the irreversible result of technological change. The steel mills and the assembly plants that were the second world wars arsenal of democracy. Can today be Man by fewer soldiers? In the last few years alone more than 2 million jobs have been lost in the manufacturing sector. a great many of those lost jobs belong to union members They all belong to Americans. But technology is the OWN is not the only cause of our problem. Many of those jobs that have been lost in America have turned up in foreign countries. Because we have surrendered to the mercantil aggressiveness of other nations. Just five years ago. A trade surplus in Goods was 40 billion dollars. This year our trade deficit will hit 140 billion dollars. That deficit represents almost four million jobs that have left this country. possibly never to return When labor has raised its voice in protest against this trend. We have been met with cries of protectionism. We are told that a tougher trade policy will invite retaliation against American exports. We are told the answer to our trade deficit is to accept less. Standard of living is too high. To compete we shall have to lower it. When it comes to trade policy, it seems detractors want to blame America first? But I challenge anyone to name a single product commodity or service. including money that actually moves in Commerce under conditions that Adam Smith David Ricardo would have recognized as free trade unlevered by state policy of practice. And if the problem we're simply one of comparative advantage. Then why would the world's most productive Farmers the farmers of America be going broke at record rates? In the arena of a Economic Policy today if that arena is hostile to labor. The regulatory arena is no less (00:14:13) friendly (00:14:14) as our National Labor Board sanctions, the practices of union-busting experts Who hide behind the innocuous title of management Consultants. But I would caution anyone who would Delight in the demise of the labor movement. What has happened to our unions is a measure of what has happened to America. The steady erosion of America's industrial base is depriving millions of young American workers of the stable well-paying jobs that sustain our standard of living. And offer admission to the working middle class. trapped in low-paying service jobs They see the American dream fading fast. For the first time we have a young generation of Americans who do not expect to do as well as their parents. Their opportunities are shrinking and so their hopes. No one should believe themselves immune from the damage. Ask the shopkeepers of Johnstown what happens when the steel mills closed? Ask the Realtors of Flint what happens when the assembly line shutdown? Ask them how many homes they sell to people earning the minimum wage flipping hamburgers and fast food franchises. And ask those who earn their living from high technology where they intend to sell their mainframes of their robots of their lasers when their biggest customers are basic Industries are forced to shut down. All this is to say nothing about what will happen to the tax base that supports our public schools and universities. And the Avenues of opportunity they open up the Bright Young students no matter what their circumstances of birth. Anyone who thinks that he or she is immune from these changes is living an illusion. But while these Trends would appear to bode ill for the labor movements future. a closer examination of Who We Are and how we have changed tells a different story. Yes, we have fewer steel and Auto Workers in our ranks. Because there are fewer of them. but at the same time we have more than 11 times as many teachers. ten times as many state county and Municipal workers four times as many Pilots three and a half times as many service employs three times as many actors and artists and more than twice as many postal workers firefighters and communications workers as we did 30 years ago. More than forty percent of our members today work and white collar and technical jobs. Another 23% are Craftsmen and supervisors less than 40 percent of our members work in Blue Collar jobs. Unions affiliated with the AFL-CIO have a higher proportion of members with college degrees than exists in the population at Large. And we have a higher proportion of members with graduate degrees and does the population at Large. That should tell you the trade unionism is not lost any of its inherent appeal. It should also tell you that trade unionism does have a future. And it should give those who Delight in laborers trouble some cause for worry. Because as the composition of our membership shows, we are nothing more and nothing less than the American middle class. The labor movement has a future and will always have a future because at its core it stands for some fundamental American values. The labor movement is the first line of defense for all the plain people who have no desire to rule or to live high on the hog at the expense of others. All the people who ask only a decent job that will support a decent family life and enable them to pay the bills retire the mortgage and give the kids a decent start in life and no country which does not afford those of its citizens who are of that character in description will deserve much in future history. That is not to say that the faith the path for trade unionists will be free and clear in the future. Yes, we face changes changes in technology changes in the makeup of the workforce changes in materials and production patterns and job patterns changes in our relations with our employers and our government. A new labor force has grown up around us and the Trade union share of it has dropped so far and we are operating in a hostile political environment. For the labor movement, that is nothing new. We have survived and prospered in the past by offering the working men and women of America not what the administration in power wanted not what politicians wanted not what their bosses wanted. Not even what the labor movements leaders may have thought working Americans should have wanted what wait what they themselves really wanted. To determine how we could answer these changing circumstances and needs. The AFL-CIO is executive Council studied and issued a report on the evolution of work and its implications for trade unions. It proposes a number of approaches. It proposes new ways to strengthen state and local Central bodies. It explores new forms of Trade union membership and use services for trade unionists who are not represented in collective bargaining and it proposes methods of reaching union members and involving them at every level of the work of the Trade union movement without relying on their attendance at regular meetings. It is not a blueprint for the future. No, living breathing and changing movement lives by blueprints. It simply explores the options we face as we move forward into the future. Our methods may change. But our message will not. We are here to defend the rights and Advance the interests of working people at home and abroad. And we shall not compromise that mission. To keep Faith with our mission. We also intend to stay active in every phase of the political life of this (00:21:45) democracy. (00:21:55) Choice is not whether to be involved. For like it or not. We are involved for better or worse in the consequences of politics. Our choice rather is whether we shall be among the victims are among the authors of events. Were it not for the labor (00:22:18) movement? (00:22:21) American political life would not be dominated by a pure and Morrow forces. American politics would be taken over Lock Stock and Barrel by the special interests hungry for money and power. Not just one party, but both would be controlled by the bankers and Oil Barons and Buddy. Admin lawyers consultants and lobbyists. Who serve the interests of avarice in this country? Our goal in politics is simply to elect people who share our commitment to decent government to policies that simply enable people to help themselves. Our view of government is the same one espoused by no less an authority than Hubert Humphrey. That government held within Democratic brat bounds by free citizens can be an indispensable instrument of human progress. If anyone doubts the possibilities of democratic government than they only need look at the long list of Hubert Humphreys achievements. after learning that his cancer would be fatal Hubert Humphrey made his first public appearance before the Minnesota AFL-CIO He spoke not from a prepared text, but from the heart. his words bear repeating today We judge a movement like this by its overall record and we judged the labor movement on what it has done to lift the standards of living for millions and millions of plain American citizens who today can have their own home who today have decent working conditions who today can send their children to a good school America is a living testimonial to what free men and women organized and free Democratic trade unions can do to make a better life and we ought to be proud of it. We in the labor movement are proud of it. We're willing to stand on that record and build on it as we move forward into the future. Thank you very (00:24:43) much. (00:25:02) Central to the conference were about to have at the Humphrey Institute. Now that more than half of All American workers are information workers. What what difference is in strategy for organizing information workers appear as compared to organizing steel Auto and other industrial workers? I'm a little unsure of the definition of information workers. But we have had information workers in the Trade union movement for very long time. In fact information workers with some of the earliest trade unionists in this country. I give you the international typographical Union, for example The and the printing Pressman and all of those who perform those tasks in the print shops of America. Most pervasive form of information dispensing virgin for quite a few Generations today. It's television primarily. And in fact, the major television networks are quite heavily organized. Most of the people who from time to time beat us about the head and shoulders on television as commentators are dues-paying members of aftra. And the technicians are by and large quite substantially organized and itse neighbor door IBEW. So I'm not if you mean Communications in the cultural field. the time of the most thoroughly trade unionized sectors of American life or the theater films music and other dance and other such activities and as I noted in my remarks our membership and that sector has more than tripled in the last 30 years that is a growth (00:27:25) area. (00:27:28) So I am I've no reason to be other than thoroughly optimistic that whatever forms this communication Revolution so-called takes that it will be organized and that people in that industry or trade a service will form trade unions and to carry out and to pursue their aspirations we have it is not simply a matter of making distinctions between rising and falling areas of employment in terms of organization. We have unorganized sector ISM both but rather a question of What's the most promising approaches to providing services to working people? given certain circumstances that are not likely to change in the near future including a hostile structure of laws a labor board that is an instrument of our opposition rather than an instrument of assistance in helping working people seek representation. other factors unemployment and hostility of employers and we are exploring those Avenues and we think we have and are developing new approaches and new services and strategies and tactics that will make it possible. To organize and expand our membership. in short when you look at the structure and management of the laws that are supposedly placed into effect to assist workers in seeking representation by unions of their own choosing. And recognize that it is a barrier. rather than an instrument that it is a handicapped rather than a help then you realize that by playing by the rules and the steps and the processes developed by your adversaries. But you're engaged in a little bit of a Mug's Game. And so we have decided we're not going to play that Mug's Game anymore. But we're going to play a different game and use different approaches that. bypass jump over and avoid these obstacles. and still take in and appeal to working people with an array of services and functions that is wholly consistent with our classical mission president Kirk on several of these questions start from the premise that labor is posterior seems to be more fragile than it has been in many years what Innovations are being considered to improve laborers health and a question a related question of interest to at least half the audience of when will women be fully accepted in the high leadership of the AFL-CIO. I do not believe that the Trade union movement is inherently more fragile or in more delicate shape than it has been in its history or even its recent history. It is quite true. that we have moved from a period where the Confluence of circumstances made the achievement of our goals seemingly easier to accomplish. I reviewed the difference. Let's say in certain of those factors in our last Convention as of the time 30 years ago when we merged. The unemployment level then was four percent. We had a trade surplus I think of three billion dollars the price of a barrel of oil was a little over two dollars and interest rates were about three and a half percent the prime rate and mortgage rates were. six or so less five and a half I (00:32:27) think (00:32:29) and all the things that have happened since have had their impact. Book the problems that we face as I mentioned in my remarks a problems the country faces. We're not losing the textile industry in this country because it's a high-paid well-organized industry. It is one of the most poorly organized and one of the lowest paid Industries in this country. Existing primarily and largely in a region of the country that has not been particularly hospitable to trade unions. And we're losing that industry faster than almost any other industry. So I suggest to you the achievements of trade unions have not put us out of business of not created a threat that puts us out of business. It's the fact that you cannot Chase successfully the lowest wages in the world is always a lower wage somewhere. As long as capital is mobile and pursues it. We're going to have difficulty. The that's one fact, and we are attempting to address that. Many of those factors are the product of legislative actions and National policy and they can only be addressed through legislative responses. And National policy responses, which means political action and we are engaged in that and we're doing everything that we can and we're exploring every new approach available to us to improve our capacity to effectively take part and that part of the decision-making caught process in this country. In terms of developing new approaches within the Trade union movement. We've completed a extensive study. which we consulted not only with other trade unionists, but with elements representing a cross-section of American life and including businessmen Engineers economists professors Consultants sociologists pollsters what have you And an intensive way exploring this question. Of what does the pattern of the evolution of jobs and employment and work in this country imply for the Trade union movement. And what are some logical and sensible ideas for dealing with it? We've come up with a report that recommends a broad array of departures from from past practices on you. methods of supplementing past previous activities And our last convention we adopted and approved several rather fairly dramatic. changes in Created new instruments and approaches. And we're going to continue down that path and I think that we are I'm quite convinced personally that we are on the threshold of a major. Move forward it may not occur overnight. It probably will not but it will. I think set us well on that path. And meanwhile, it will further cement. And build upon and develop the internal cohesion and solidarity of the Trade union movement as it is today. That solidarity on which everything depends on the last (00:36:33) analysis. (00:36:36) I want to say a word about the women I could say. a great deal question of when to (00:36:52) stop (00:36:56) it is my firm conviction and I've expressed it not only verbally but I think in terms of steps that we have taken. That we have not only an obligation, but we ought to embrace. And rejoice in every possible approach. To the encouragement of a stronger role in the Trade union movement for women workers. And we have pursued a number of measures to achieve that. Measures of which I am proud and which I do not think we have to record it. suggest any apology We have created and helped sponsor and develop an institution known as the Coalition of labor union women. we have taking steps to ensure that its develops on a healthy Financial base. We've encouraged all of our Affiliates and subordinate bodies to work with it to help it to encourage women trade unionists to become associated with it to build it and make it strong vocal and aggressive as they constant gold and reminder to the leadership of the labor movement all levels of the vital role that women work is play And ought to play in the future secondly. We have a leadership training institute and go the George meany Center for labor studies. We have designed and if put into place a significant array of training courses designed and targeted specifically. at women trade unionists to equip them better with the tools and the experience and backgrounds to play more and a more aggressive role in the Trade union movement and to run for office. And to achieve office and to perform creditably in office in this movement. and a democratic movement Where people rise to positions by the process of election? It is not possible to reach out and ordained that someone shall hold elective office. A person has to be elected but we've done everything and are doing everything within our power to encourage. Both the aggressive pursuit of Trade union office on the part of women workers. And to help them perform those officers as creditably as possible and to persuade all the membership at all levels. That this is something that they should welcome and embrace and encourage rather than Grumble about. what you can do in a democratic structure Where you cannot interfere with the election through a process or? Order a certain result. You can and should. Do everything at you? Open to you too. create role models and symbols of encouragement because the leading symbol and role model and is the executive Council of the AFL-CIO, which is our College of cardinals. and historically that's been governed selection to that Council has been governed by certain. Rules some written someone written. the unwritten rules are That we should position should be. confined or should be seat should be drawn from the ranks of the top leadership of the Affiliated National and international unions preferably their presidents and that has a certain logic to it view is that those vice presidents as members of that executive Council should be the leading spokesman of those organizations within the Trade union movement. Secondly, we've had a Unwritten rule that cannot be two from the same National Union. At the convention at which I was elected president. I made a pledge to Explorer every conceivable way of placing women on the executive Council, even if it took breaking the rules. I wanted to do it by a broad consensus. So I set up a committee of the council consisting of half of the council members. And I put to them I proposition that there should be a minimum of two of those seats. Where we set aside those old rules. And make a deliberate Outreach effort to find most prominent and leading. officers in our ranks who were women we agreed to do that. So we added to that Council first Joyce Miller who was the and he is the president of the Coalition of labor union women and a vice president of The Amalgamated clothing workers, even though the president of The Amalgamated clothing workers also sits on that Council. And a little later we elected Barbara Hutchinson a vice president of the afge and the director of the women's division. and that was accomplished and it was not only accomplished but it was welcomed and embraced by the rest of the council members largely because we used a consensus process to achieve it. But I declared at that time that henceforth. I trusted that the process of participation and natural elevation in the Trade union movement of women leadership Would take place so that would make it possible to place on that Council women and other minorities who and majorities. Who happened to be who were also authentic leaders of their unions and the chief spokesman of their unions that process is taking place. And I think the number on that Council will grow by virtue of the fact that as time passes in the Trade union movement. This broader participation is moving up in the movement and we'll reach the top on a very broad basis and we will have no difficulty finding authentic elected spokeswoman of our Affiliated unions who are women and they will then be on this Council. How can our Union survive if our us companies must compete in an international market? well, that's what our many of our legislative efforts are all (00:44:57) about a company (00:45:05) will not survive. as long as as a domestic employer as long as that are Market is open to the products of the most oppressed and exploited labor in the world. And those areas where labor costs. Are a major element of cost? that's also true (00:45:31) and (00:45:34) sectors where labor cost may not be the dominant element, but it is the most flexible or tractable one. You know, there are a growing number of Industries and when I came out of is one of them. Well the cost of hiring the money is vastly exceeds the cost of hiring workers. The wages one has to pay to the bank when one builds a ship today. Is eight to ten times the wages that you have to pay the crew? But there's one difference between capital and labor one of several and one of them is that you can lay off the labor, but you play hell laying off the (00:46:22) bank. (00:46:31) And you play hell negotiating a lower interest rate with the bank. So that's an intractable cost and labor is a tractable cost and there's plenty of it available all over the world some of it that will work for practically nothing. what we need, I think the most basic thing that we need is a (00:46:55) a (00:46:58) new approach among the thinking class and those who have so tyrannized policy with the doctrines of Smith and Ricardo in the textbook wisdom of past ages we need a new approach to the thinking and teaching about this complex and difficult matter one for example that says a comparative advantage is not access to forced or exploited labor. And that the use of that. Is a form of protectionism rather than of free trade and an expression of protectionism the suppression of working people's rights and conditions. around the world ought to be regarded as a the most brutal form of protectionism that exists is a form of protectionism of benefit to a narrow Mercantile class that does not spread the benefits of trade broadly among the population and is not an expression of free trade not a comparative a North entik or desirable or constructive comparative advantage, but in fact a form of protectionism as I believe it is that is one major factor and if we could get that Doctrine pervade and ideas that kind of powerful just as powerful (00:48:48) as the (00:48:51) Classical textbook approach then. I think perhaps we can begin to make some progress nationally and internationally this problem. There's a there's a follow-up question asking why isn't it possible to develop a greater worldwide Union (00:49:08) activism? (00:49:13) That was that put in the negative. Why is it not possible? Why does it not seem to be possible? Yes. Well, I think it's quite possible and it is being done we have we're affiliated with the international Confederation of free trade unions. which is a body made up of the Trade union centers of all of the democratic countries and some of them that are so so but it's very flexion of about half the world. And we work together as best we can and trying to find common approaches to relations with. Corporations that are increasingly becoming at a national and Multinational in character. common approaches to the defense of workers rights and to the promotion of freedom of Association and the world pooling our resources to help in the development of struggling and nascent trade unions wherever we can. So that's an active body. We work through the ILO as well to develop try and develop some greed minimum labor standards. That incidentally ought to be used as they are available to be used. And implementing the doctrine that I suggested before that exploitation of workers is not a comparative advantage but a form of protectionism. I think those bodies are making progress in the moving forward. They are not proving that it is not possible to do anything. beyond that the Federation itself Is created in the last 20 years or so? It's on Foreign Service. We have several International institutes that work in Africa and in Asia and in Latin America with the trade unionists of those countries giving them help developing programs training them to carry out their duties. That is an important part of our activities. all of these areas of considerable progress as compared with the Trade union movement say 50 years ago. And so I don't think there's any cause for negativism or suggesting that it's a dry hole. We also have the Fairly elaborate structure of trade Secretariat's made up of international unions. From a great number of countries all whom all of whom work in the same trade or industry is a metal work is vetter International metal workers Federation transport workers Federation postal telephone Telegraph Public Service international and entertainment International. all of these exists on function and provide a platform from which these objectives can can be pursued the Great Barrier and the great weakness. Is simply that half of the world a more doesn't believe in Freedom of Association? And rigorously suppresses it. and that is the great threat to the the goals and aspirations of working people