wfn.org | Labor, Religion Share Concerns

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS" by SUSAN PEEK on Aug. 11, 1991 at 13:58 Eastern,
about FULL TEXT RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (3458 notes).

Note 3458 by UMNS on Feb. 27, 1997 at 16:19 Eastern (3642 characters).

SEARCH:   Labor, religion, justice, United Methodist

Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of
the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New
York, and Washington.

Contact:  Joretta Purdue                         104(10-71B){3458}
          Washington, D.C.  (202) 546-8722           Feb. 27, 1997

Labor leader talks with religious advocates,
shares concerns for social, economic justice

     WASHINGTON (UMNS) -- John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO,
spoke with representatives of several faith groups in an effort to
find common concerns between organized labor and religious
advocacy organizations here Feb. 27.
     Religion and labor "have been great allies" in the past,
Sweeney said, indicating that he would like to see a new
partnership built around social and economic justice issues.
     About 35 people including the Rev. Joan Brown Campbell,
general secretary of the National Council of Churches of Christ in
the U.S.A., attended the breakfast meeting at the United Methodist
Building on Capitol Hill, arranged by the Board of Church and
Society.
     Representatives of several Protestant denominations attended
as well as those of Catholic, Jewish and labor organizations. 
     Sweeney, who has been president of the American Federation of
Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations since fall 1995,
pointed to efforts the AFL-CIO has made to address some of these
justice issues. 
     It has established a women's department and is pushing a
civil rights agenda that includes pay equity and an end to
harassment and discrimination for women and minorities. Outreach
to young people was the point of Union Summer in 1996 and will be
repeated in 1997 but also expanded to include a program for
retirees, Sweeney said.
     AFL-CIO programs to support the working family will include
attention to health care, education and welfare reform.
     "Building a greater respect for workers" is the overarching
goal, Sweeney said. Downsizing and outsourcing have really hurt
workers, he said. 
     Corporate responsibility will be another emphasis, he said,
citing examples good and bad. U.S. Steel, which maintains a
training and education facility for workers to improve skills and
obtain degrees, was offered as a good example. Boeing was
insensitive, he said, while workers were on strike for "a modest
increase" in wages, the CEO announced bonuses worth millions of
dollars for a few executives.
     Sweeney expressed an intention to treat the changes in
welfare, much of which labor opposed, as an opportunity to
organize the new work force that will be produced, and at the same
time, unions will be consciously watching the way their present
members' jobs may be affected.
     "As a labor union, we want to be out front," he said.
     He also verbalized a need to address trade laws with an eye
to workers' rights and safety and environmental protection.
Sweeney said that NAFTA has not aided workers in this country, and
things actually have gotten worse for the maquiladora, factories
established just over the Mexican border where workers who are
paid very little live in squatters' communities without plumbing
and electricity.
     He said work with unions in other countries continues in an
effort to address other issues associated with multinational
companies.
     An immediate priority for Sweeney is a drive to get clean
drinking water, sanitary bathrooms, health insurance and job
security for workers in the California strawberry fields. A march
will be held April 13. 
                              #  #  #

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