Cooperation, Bipartisanship, Consensus -- Just Talk?

Washington, D.C., Feb.6–All the talk about cooperation, bipartisanship and consensus will remain just talk until President Bush gets specific, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said Monday.

So far, he said things don't look great, reports a wire service.

"The measure of bipartisanship will not be whether the president can pick off enough Democrats to pass some bills in Congress," Sweeney said at the National Press Club. "The real measure of bipartisanship will be whether Republicans and Democrats can come together around our nation's moral center."

Bush failed to do that with some of his Cabinet nominations, including Attorney General John Ashcroft, he said.

Some early indications by the Bush administration don't bode well for organized labor, such as a possible rollback in Clinton administration rules aimed at barring from government contracts those who have broken environmental, labor, tax and other laws. The rules took effect on President Clinton's last day, Jan. 20.

Bush also is considering an executive order to ban labor agreements on any project that receives federal money. Another executive order under consideration would disband labor-management partnership councils crated by Clinton.

Unions are a cornerstone of the Democratic base, and their members overwhelmingly backed Al Gore over Bush in last year's election campaign and the Nov. 7 election. A record 26 percent of voters who turned out were from union households, and 2 million new voters were registered in the election cycle – the result, Sweeney said, of unprecedented organizing.

Unions will focus more on younger workers and retirees in the future, he said. Also, the AFL-CIO is sponsoring town hall meetings across the country this week to talk abut workplace issues. That effort is part of the union federation's new "Respect Work/Strengthen Families" campaign.

"The election left many working families angry and frustrated, their hopes crushed and their nerves raw," Sweeney said. "On the upside, their disenchantment makes millions of Americans even more attentive, even more ready to be engaged."

Sweeney said issues that union workers will use to grade the new president include:

–Will he and the Republican-controlled Congress bow to business pressure to reverse new workplace safety rules the Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued in November? The rules would require new ergonomically designed furniture and equipment in many of the nation's workplaces.

–Will the $5.15 hourly federal minimum wage be increased? Bush has said he favors an increase if states are allowed to opt out.

–Will overhaul of the voting system be enacted?

–Will a school vouchers program be approved that would take money away from public schools? Teachers' unions, many of whose members work in public schools, vehemently oppose the idea.

–Will Social Security and Medicare be strengthened?

"When the president and the Congress support these goals, we will support them," Sweeney said. "When they oppose these goals, we will oppose them."

On changes in campaign finance rules, Sweeney said the AFL-CIO opposes the so-called paycheck protection provision that Bush wants, which would require unions to take permission from members before making political donations.

"We support campaign finance reform, but it has to be campaign finance reform that doesn't discriminate against workers and their ability to participate in the political process," he said.

If such a provision is approved, corporations also should be required to have shareholder permission for political donations, he said.

"This cannot be a one-way street," Sweeney said.

Sweeney said he also wants union input into Bush's proposal to use government money to help finance religious groups' work on social problems.