MORE LABOR REVAMP PLANS: AFSCME PUSHES POLITICS; IAM SAYS 'GO SLOW’ ILCA Online
The Machinists’ Grand Lodge (convention) voted in September to authorize its Executive Council to withdraw IAM from the AFL-CIO if the council believes IAM’s autonomy is threatened.
"The Machinists' view is that how we use our power is the acid test of the labor movement," IAM’s report said.
It recommended investing $200 million "to create a labor-owned cable network that projects a positive image of union members and the American labor movement" and establishing a health care database to leverage the purchasing power of over 50 million union members and retirees. It also wants to "expand the number of votes cast by focusing political efforts on states with heavy concentration of union households."
And IAM wants more federation support for the civil rights and womens' rights movements, to reevaluate how the fed resolves intra-union disputes and to give unions "far more information and input over the development of AFL-CIO programs and budgets."