Secretary Promises to Listen to Unions but Expects Differences

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 14 -- Elaine L. Chao, the new labor secretary, made her first appearance today before the nation's union leaders, promising to listen to their views while acknowledging that the Bush administration and labor would inevitably have differences, according to the New York Times.

Appearing at the winter meeting of the A.F.L.-C.I.O.'s executive council, Ms. Chao heard union leaders raise concerns about compulsory overtime, trade liberalization and fears that the administration would reverse new safety rules. She also met with several immigrant workers who talked about low pay, long hours and obstacles they face in unionizing.

Afterward, labor leaders praised Ms. Chao for her candor and her promise to maintain a dialogue. She gave them few substantial answers, saying she was still studying many issues because she had been in office for just eight days.

"I wanted to come to Los Angeles to meet with the executive council to listen and learn about the concerns of organized labor," she said, adding that she expected to have a "cordial, long and productive relationship" with the nation's unions.

Several labor leaders said Ms. Chao told them in a closed-door meeting that the administration would disagree with organized labor and adopt a policy, reversing President Bill Clinton, that would bar regulations giving unionized construction firms priority in obtaining work in federally funded projects.

"I found her very candid," said Gerald McEntee, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. "She said there would be times we will work together and others times we'll do battle."

The A.F.L.-C.I.O., a 13 million- member federation of 66 unions, made clear today that it would fight President Bush over his proposed $1.6 trillion tax cut. It said the plan favored the wealthy, would hardly spur the economy and would leave little money for other initiatives.

The executive council adopted a resolution stating: "President Bush's plan is bad economic policy and morally wrong. The distribution of wealth and income in our country is more unequal than at any time since the Great Depression, and the Bush plan would widen the gap."

The union leaders voiced support for tax-cutting alternatives that they said would be fairer to working families and would help spur the economy faster. One alternative would give every person a $400 "prosperity dividend" this year.

In other initiatives announced today, labor leaders vowed to strengthen ties with immigrant communities and called for placing in every workplace a poster spelling out internationally guaranteed labor rights.

For many labor leaders, the jury was out on whether Ms. Chao would actually run the nation's labor policy. Before Ms. Chao settled in, the Bush administration took several actions unions disliked, among them suspending President Clinton's regulations that bar awarding federal contracts to companies that repeatedly violate labor or environmental laws.

Mr. McEntee said, "The question is whether labor policy is going to be made out of the Department of Labor or out of the White House?"

Andrew Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union, predicted that Ms. Chao's power would be limited, saying, "She is part of President Bush's administration and the president makes policy about labor-related issues like the minimum wage."

But Mr. Stern said he came away impressed, valuing her promise to listen to labor's views and convey them to the White House.