Labor's 1%

Labor's 1%

by Mark Zimmerman


February 3, 2012

The staggering level of wealth and income inequality has
finally become a focal point of political discussion and
action in the United States.  While the major problem is
clearly the enormous increase in the concentration of wealth
among the extremely wealthy, perhaps best described as the
"top tenth of the one percent," those in the lower tiers of
the one percent have benefited as well.

Several months ago, David Cay Johnston, a columnist for
Reuters, published an article on the diversity of the "one-
percent."  Using income data from 2009 tax returns, Johnston
concluded that "Economically, those just entering the top 1
percent have nothing in common with those in the top tenth
of the top 1 percent....while all those in the top 1 percent
are certainly well off, the vast majority still go to work
every day.  Almost half of the top 1 percent, or 1.4 million
taxpayers, make $344,000 to $500,000." [1]

Unfortunately, a significant percentage of the leadership of
organized labor fits comfortably within that bottom half of
the top one-percent.  Many union members, including this
author, would consider those salaries problematic.

There are those who take the position that the subject of
union leaders' salaries should not be a matter for public
discussion, that it will only give fodder to labor's
enemies.  This is a legitimate concern.  The right-wing,
anti-labor "Union Facts" website, for example, has for years
made an issue of the differences between the salaries of
union leaders and the members they represent.

But it may also be true that the levels of inequality
between union rank-and-file and elected officers, as well as
large differentials in salaries from union to union and
sector to sector, is detrimental to labor.  There are
several reasons that this may be so: First, salaries that
can easily translate to a lavish lifestyle breed distrust
and disgust among dues-paying members.  Second, when non-
union workers become aware of exorbitant salaries paid to
union officials - as when they happen upon the Union Facts
website - it provides yet another reason they may want to
stay away from union organizing efforts.

But, perhaps most importantly, we have to ask ourselves what
the impact of outsized salaries has on the psyches of their
recipients.  Can a union president earning, say, between
$300,000 and $600,000, year after year, remain immune to the
trappings of wealth, power, and a luxurious lifestyle?  Will
an officer accustomed to a $400,000 salary maintain a
burning desire to increase taxes on the wealthy or to rally
his members to fight inequality?

Between $600,000 and $50,000

The highest paid labor leader in the United States may be
Terence O'Sullivan, President of the Laborers International
Union (LIUNA/AFL-CIO).  In 2010, the last year for which
figures are publicly available, O'Sullivan was paid nearly
$600,000.  O'Sullivan's earnings for the previous three
years were comparable. [2]

Until last year, Richard Hughes served as the President of
the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA/AFL-CIO).
Hughes was elected to that position in 2007, becoming only
the eighth president in the ILA's 117 years of existence. In
2010, Hughes' last year as president, the ILA paid him
$464,000.  Harold Daggett succeeded Hughes as President in
2011.  In 2010, the ILA paid Daggett $399,000 in his
capacity as Vice President.

In 2010, AFSCME paid its president, Gerald McEntee, over
$400,000; Vincent Giblin of the Operating Engineers (AFL-
CIO) received $426,000; and Randy Weingarten of the American
Federation of Teachers (AFT/AFL-CIO) got $389,000.  The
median salary for union members in the United States is less
than $48,000. [3]

There are 57 union leaders on the AFL-CIO's Executive
Council, representing nine million union members.  Seventeen
of the executive council's members - thirty-percent - were
paid in excess of $300,000 in 2010.  Most were presidents of
craft unions (ten from the building trades) and two were
from the public sector.

On the other hand, the seventeen lowest paid members of the
Executive Council had incomes ranging from $47,000 to
$161,000.  Very few were from craft unions, but six were
from industrial unions.

Inequality and diversity

That the AFL-CIO leadership is male dominated and
overwhelmingly white is not new.  The federation has
attempted to address that issue by creating additional
positions on its Executive Council.  But those efforts have
gone only so far.

Despite the fact that women make up about 43% of union
members, only 19% of the AFL-CIO's Executive Council are
women.  But among that top earning 30% - the $300,000+ club
- there is only one woman. In 2010, the average compensation
for the male members of the AFL-CIO Executive Council was
$252,000 while the average for the female members was
$194,000 - a 23% difference.

Of the nine black union officials who were on the AFL-CIO
Executive Council, only one had earnings above $300,000.
None of the four Hispanic members on the council had
anything close to that level.  The average compensation for
the ten black and Hispanic members who received salaries
from their unions was $146,000 - nearly $100,000 less than
the council average. [4]

Should we be concerned about these levels of inequality?

It is easy enough to find justifications for paying elected
union leaders salaries that put them in the top one-percent:
These are demanding, high-stress jobs requiring many skills,
lots of travel, taxing schedules, etc.  Salaries of union
officers leading organizations with hundreds of thousands of
members pale in comparison to corporate executives and
leaders of large not-for-profit organizations.

But, one has to wonder whether union leadership so far
removed economically from the rank-and-file, can
meaningfully represent the millions of members who live
paycheck to paycheck and have little or no expectation of
being able to retire securely.  According to a recent study
that was reported on the website Inequality.org, "The life
experiences of the wealthy....leaves the rich less
compassionate and altruistic than people of more modest
means." [5]

Union presidents have a way of staying in office for an
extended period.  Gerald McEntee of AFSCME is retiring after
30 years as President of AFSCME.  Terence O'Sullivan is now
in his thirteenth year as President of the Laborers.  With
salaries between $400,000 and $600,000 a year, one can only
imagine the lifestyle they lead - and wonder how that
impacts on the decisions they must make on behalf of their
membership.

There are good reasons for concluding that having union
leaders in the top one-percent of income earners does harm
to organized labor.  We can start by asking the following
questions:  Should an elected union official be paid more
than the president of the United States or a member of
Congress? [6] Can a certain salary level be a corrupting
influence - how many people can resist the trappings of an
upper-class lifestyle when they receive an upper-class
income year after year?  Are the benefits of large salaries
worth the costs - how much does the perception of corruption
or elitism harm labor's image both within its ranks and
among the population at large?  Finally, do the enormous
salary differentials between building and construction
trades presidents and those in other labor sectors
negatively impact on the functioning of the AFL-CIO?

The Occupy Wall Street movement has not only highlighted the
issue of income inequality.  It has also put forth a
challenge to organized labor in the form of the implicit
question the OWS movement raises:  Where has organized labor
been?  In light of that question, the uncomfortable facts
discussed above may provide at least part of the answer.

[Mark Zimmerman has been involved with organized labor for
over thirty years. He can be contacted at
iamzimmerman@gmail.com ]

Footnotes:

1.
http://blogs.reuters.com/david-cay-
johnston/2011/10/25/beyond-the-1-percent/

2. 2007-10 LM2's.  See below for a full list of AFL-CIO
Executive Council and CTW Leadership Council salaries.

3. Bureau of Labor Statistics -
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.nr0.htm

4. AFL-CIO Executive Council members average union-paid
salary was $239,000 in 2010.

5. Understanding Our National Empathy Deficit,
http://inequality.org/empathy-and-wealth/

6.$400,000 and $174,000 respectively.

=====

AFL-CIO Executive Council 2010
Union                          Members        Income

(President unless otherwise noted                2010 [7]

Terence O'Sullivan                480,000          $571,000
Laborers (LIUNA)

Richard Hughes                    44,000          $464,000
East Coast Longshoremen (ILA)

Vincent Giblin                  390,000          $426,000
Operating Engineers (IUOE)

Gerald McEntee                1,465,000      $400,000
AFSCME

Randy Weingarten                860,000          $389,000
American Federation of Teachers (AFT)

Mark Ayers                        NA            $380,000
Building & Construction Trades (BCTD)

Newton Jones                    61,000            $379,000
Boilermakers (BBF)

Patrick Finley                    40,000          $361,000
Plasterers and Cement Masons (OPCM)

Capt. John Prater              44,000          $328,000
Airline Pilots Association, (ALPA

William Lucy [8]              214,000          $322,000
Postal Workers (APWU)

Edwin Hill                    685,000          $322,000
Electrical Workers (IBEW)
 
James Williams                    117,000          $314,000
Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT)

James Boland                    84,000          $308,000
Bricklayers (BAC)

William Hite                    341,000          $306,000
Plumbers and Pipefitters (PPF)

Michael J. Sullivan                136,000          $304,000
Sheet Metal Workers (SMW)

Harold Schaitberger              296,000          $303,000
Firefighters (IAFF)

Matthew Loeb                      112,000          $300,000
Theatrical and Stage Employees (IATSE)

Malcolm Futhey Jr.              53,000          $299,000
United Transportation Union (UTU)

Robert Scardelletti              45,000          $298,000
Transportation Communications (TCU)

John Wilhelm                    230,000          $285,000
UNITE-HERE

Richard Trumka                    8,455,000          $277,000
President, AFL-CIO

Walter Wise [9]                  122,000          $269,000
Gen'l Secretary, Ironworkers (BSIOW)

Michael Goodwin                  99,000          $260,000
Office & Professional Employees (OPEIU)

James Little                    118,000          $256,000
Transport Workers Union (TWU)

Thomas Buffenbarger                594,000          $250,000
Machinists (IAM)

Arlene Holt Baker              8,455,000          $246,000
Executive VP, AFL-CIO

Frank Hurt                      85,000          $228,000
Bakery, Confectionary (BCTGMI)

Nancy Wohlforth                  99,000          $203,000
Secretary-Treas., OPEIU

D. Michael Landford              50,000          $199,000
Utility Workers (UWUA)

Liz Shuler                      8,455,000      $188,000
Sec'y.-Treas., AFL-CIO

Larry Cohen                      504,000          $185,000
Communication Workers (CWA)

Frederic Rolando                286,000          $182,000
Letter Carriers (NALC)

Loretta Johnson                  860,000          $182,000
Executive VP, AFT

Gregory Junemann                67,000          $180,000
Professional, Technical Employees (IFPTE)

John Gage                        279,000          $170,000
Government Employees (AFGE)

Cecil Roberts                    76,000          $161,000
Mineworkers (UMW)

Leo Gerard                        581,000      $161,000
Steelworkers (USW)

Lee Saunders                      1,465,000    $158,000
Secretary-Treasurer, AFSCME

Roseann DeMoro                    131,000      $154,000
Exec. Dir., National Nurses United (NNU)

Lawrence Hanley                    192,000      $146,000
VP, Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU)

Bob King                          377,000      $146,000
United Auto Workers, (UAW)

Clifford Guffey                    214,000      $144,000
Postal Workers, APWU

General Holiefield                377,000      $133,000
Vice President, UAW

Fred Redmond                      581,000      $130,000
VP, USW

Bruce Smith                        28,000      $127,000
Glass Molders (GMP)

Rogelio Flores                    279,000      $125,000
Vice President, AFGE

Robert McEllrath                  37,000      $116,000
West Coast Longshoremen (ILWU)

Diann Woodard                      20,000      $100,000
School Administrators

Michael Sacco                      32,000      $100,000
Seafarers (SIU)

Veda Shook                          60,000      $88,000
Flight Attendants (CWA)

James Andrews [10]                  NA        $85,000
North Carolina AFL-CIO

Baldemar Velasquez                  NA        $47,000
Farm Laborers (FLOC)

Robbie Sparks [11]                  NA          $1,050
Business Manager, IBEW 2127

Roberta Reardon*                    65,000        0
Radio & Television Artists (AFTRA)

Clyde Rivers**                      190,000        0
California School Employees Association

Maria Elena Darazo^                      NA        0
President, Los Angeles, AFL-CIO

Ken Howard*                          128,000      0
President, Screen Actors (SAG)

======

Change to Win Leadership Council

Affiliation                            Members        Income

James P. Hoffa                      1,327,000      $357,000
Teamsters

Joseph Hansen                      1,290,000      $321,000
UFCW

Mary Kay Henry                    1,917,000      $214,000
Service Employees (SEIU)

Tom Woodruff                        1,917,000      $206,000
Executive VP, SEIU

Eliseo Medina                      1,917,000      $205,000
Secretary-Treasurer, SEIU

Geralyn Lutty                      1,290,000      $176,000
International VP, UFCW

Arturo Rodriguez                    5,200        $81,000
United Farm Workers (UFWA)

Sources:

[7] As reported on each union's 2010 LM-2 report unless
otherwise noted.  Includes salary and other compensation as
listed on each union's LM2 report, Schedules 11 or 12,
excluding disbursements for official business.  Benefits
such as health insurance are not included.

[8] Lucy was AFSCME's Secretary-Treasurer until he retired
in 2010.  This salary figure is what he received in his last
full year at AFSCME (2009).  He continues to receive this
salary as a pension benefit.  His AFSCME earnings for 2010
were over $800,000, presumably a severance package.

[9] The President of the Ironworkers Union, Joseph Hunt, was
paid $355,000 in 2010.

[10] Salary for fiscal year ended 6/30/09 - source IRS Form
990.

[11]  It is unclear what this reported compensation
represents.

* Not compensated by their unions.

** Clyde Rivers is retired from CSEA.  His current
relationship with CSEA is not known.

 ^ Most recent IRS 990 (2009).

Tell Richard Trumka, Leo Gerard, Amy Dean, Joe Hansen and Jimmy Hoffa to get up off their asses and strike while the iron is hot

by Alan L. Maki on Thursday, November 3, 2011 at 9:01am

Now is the time for working people to move into action against Wal-mart with a massive organizing campaign. In my opinion, any campaign to boycott Wal-mart at this time should be in conjunction with a full-scale international union organizing campaign with Wal-mart being taken on by workers across the globe. With Occupy Wall Street spreading across the globe like a prairie fire on a windy day, this would be a perfect time to launch an international campaign to organize Wal-mart workers. Wal-mart is now the largest employer in the world--- what better target for Occupy Wall Street than one of the largest and most profitable of Wall Street's multi-national companies? All the ingredients are now here for a victory--- Wal-mart workers want a union and there is massive anti-Wall Street sentiment sweeping the globe which would make a consumer boycott very effective. I think people like Richard Trumka, Leo Gerard and Amy Dean need to be explaining why they are not thinking along these lines and throwing all their resources into this kind of working class struggle instead of pissing away the money of union members supporting Barack Obama who is obviously Wall Street's president. Wal-mart brings its products into this country by ship in containers from the low-wage areas of the world where these commodities are being produced and the longshore union is in a mode to fight. A consumer boycott and Wal-mart not being able to get its goods off the ships would make for a huge working class organizing victory. Now is the time to strike while the iron is hot.

Have you had enough? New Party on the horizon

Rocky Anderson

418 Douglas Street

Salt Lake City, UTAH 84102

E-mail: rockyandersonrocky@yahoo.com

Press Release  -  October 21, 2011

Have you had enough?

New Party on the horizon

The former Mayor of Salt Lake City and Executive Director of High Road for Human Rights, Rocky Anderson, calls for the formation of a new political party and a sustained movement committed to the public interest.

Two months ago, Anderson “divorced himself” from what he referred to as “the spineless, gutless Democratic Party.” Responding to an email from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which showed as the subject, “Standing strong,” Anderson wrote: “How dare you send an email with the subject line ‘Standing strong.’ You didn’t do it on Iraq, you didn’t do it on torture, you didn’t do it on signing statements, you haven’t done it onAfghanistan, you haven’t done it on defense spending, you haven’t done it on real health care reform, you haven’t done it on the debt ceiling fiasco.”

(Rolly: Rocky Anderson says adieu to the Democratic Party,” The Salt Lake Tribune, August 12, 2011.)

Anderson continued: “I’m done with the Democratic Party… I think the answer is a new political party that actually will advocate for and promote the interests of the public rather than the narrow interests of the wealthy who bought and paid for not only Congress but the White House… The Constitution has been eviscerated while Democrats have stood by with nary a whimper. It is a gutless, unprincipled party, bought and paid for by the same interests that buy and pay for the Republican Party.”

(Romboy, “Former S.L. mayor Rocky Anderson divorces himself from ‘gutless’ Democratic Party,” Deseret News, August 13, 2011.)

This country needs a new, powerful party that can win elections, according to Anderson.  “The pensions and other savings accounts of the middle class in this country have been decimated. The only way out is another party. I would call it, frankly, a second party that actually represents the interests of the American people. There isn’t a real opposition force in Washington, D.C., any more, and we the people have the capacity to change that -- and we must if our republic is going to survive.  I consider myself an Independent, but I would be very pleased to work with others to form not just a political party to run another campaign, but to launch a sustained movement for major change in this country.”

(“Rocky: Not a Democrat,” (Interview with Rocky Anderson by Lexie Levitt), City Weekly,September 26, 2011.)

Anderson said that people are fed up with the Democratic and Republican parties, Congress, and the Obama administration to the point of being ready to support a new party that rejects the corporatism and militarism of the two “Wall Street lap-dog” major parties.

The polls support Anderson’s view that the people of the United States are desirous of a new party, and bold, new leadership, like never before. Patrick Caddell and Douglas Shoen have written:

“The United States is in the midst of what we would both call a pre-Revolutionary moment, and there is widespread support for fundamental change in the system.  An increasing number of Americans are now searching beyond the two parties for bold and effective leadership.”

(Caddell and Schoen, “Expect a Third-Party Candidate in 2012,” The Wall Street Journal, August 25, 2011.)

"Have you had enough?" asks Anderson. “Would you support the formation of a new party that will commit to:

• affordable universal health care;
• an end to the wars;
• a significant reduction in the military budget and an end to the military-industrial-congressional complex;
• investigation of illegal conduct, including war crimes, by executive officials during the current and prior administrations;
• investigation of the events on 9/11 to answer significant questions that have been raised;
• prosecution for illegal conduct leading to the economic melt-down;
• disincentives for U.S. companies to send jobs overseas;
• employee and environmental safeguards in trade agreements;
• implementation of major domestic jobs and infrastructure programs;
• an end to the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy;
• campaign finance reform to end the corrupting influence of money in politics;
• treat substance abuse within a public health framework rather than as a criminal matter;
• repeal the PATRIOT Act;
• compassionate and rational immigration reform;
• marriage equality;
• an end to subsidies for oil and gas companies;
• a ban on a Canada-to-Mexico tar sands pipeline;
• air quality protection, including stricter ozone limits; and
• aggressive action and leadership on the climate crisis and the environment?”

Rocky Anderson has been in the process of contacting some of America’s leading social, environmental and political activists with the goal of creating a powerful, broad-based political alternative to the increasingly unpopular Republican and Democratic Parties. He intends that the new party will have candidates in local, state, and federal races throughout the nation.

Anderson plans on hosting a meeting soon between leaders in various sectors of the country in order to draft a new platform and a long-term strategy capable of attracting a majority of voters, including millions of dissatisfied Democrats and Republicans who, until now, had nowhere else to go.

Anderson has stated his intention to do what is possible to get on the ballots in all 50 states and to campaign for candidates aggressively in all states. "The Democratic and Republican Parties have acted as if voters have no other real options. The people of this country will demonstrate that we, indeed, have another option - a party that will work in the public interest, rather than for the defense contractors, the health insurance companies, and the rapacious financial institutions that have caused such economic havoc in our nation and the world."

Anderson anticipates a broad-based coalition, similar to the one built by the New Democratic Party of Canada (NDP), which won impressive political gains in the Canadian federal elections last May. The NDP is the political party that brought universal health care to the Canadian people.

Press info: Mackenzie Scott - Tel. 801-520-0491

Rocky Anderson - Tel. 801-557-9007

E-mail: rockyandersonrocky@yahoo.com

Why Labor Needs to Explore a New Political Direction!

Why Labor Needs to Explore a New Political Direction!

"The definition of insanity is repeating the same failed thing over and over expecting a different outcome"- Albert Einstein

By Pancho Valdez

I joined my first union in December of 1971 when I was employed with the San Antonio Independent School District. As a member of the now defunct SEIU Local 84  I eagerly voted for Democrats as back then they appeared to be sympathetic to the cause of organized labor. As time passed I eventually learned how wrong I was. However one must remember I was only 19 at the time and what did I know about political reality?

 

By the mid 70's I was working in Houston and a member of several unions. The union that I gained the most experience and success with was Teamsters Local 968 while I worked for the old GAF Floor Tile Plant. It wasn't soon after that I learned just how evasive and dishonest to workers elected politicians could be. My faithin the Democratic Party was beginning to deteriorate.

 

In the early 90's I learned about a project that the late Anthony Mazzochi was involved in. Mazzochi then an officer with the Oil,Chemical & Atomic Workers was proposing that organized labor should create and support a political party controlled by workers, rather than corporations. At about that time President Clinton signed into law the controversial North American Free Trade Agreement aka NAFTA. Despite labor having coughed up $35 million for his campaign against Republican Robert Dole, Clinton in typical neo-liberal fashion gave workers the shafta with NAFTA!

 

Mazzochi's idea was becoming more and more interesting to me as the Democrats willingly betrayed the American working class as well as the Mexican working class in their shameless support for NAFTA! In the late 90's the Labor Party went from just an idea to becoming a reality in it's founding convention in Cleveland, Ohio. Initially I along with several other  local trade unionists

became quite excited and involved with the Labor Party, unfortunately our zeal ended with the party failing to challenge either Democrats or Republicans across the nation with the exception of S. Carolina. Today the Labor Party exists on paper, but the need remains even more so that those earlier days.

 

As I write this article I have just learned that President Obama signed into law trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and S. Korea despite organized labor's opposition and the fact that these "trade agreements" will cost the U.S. close to 150.000 jobs!

While I can understand Obama's pandering to the corporate elite, I cannot accept the fact that the AFL-CIO and other major labor union bodies continue to blindly support Obama and the Democratic Party. How many more betrayals does organized labor need to experience before it says; Enough is enough?? 

 

Labor's dependency on a party that continually betrays it's interests reminds me of the battered woman who continues to fall for the abusive partner's lies and then continues to get beaten up!

 

Along with the Democratic Party's/President Obama's shameless support for the phony trade agreements, Obama has publicly supported Arne Duncan's attack on public school teachers and their unions blaming them for the many failures of our public school system! Yet both the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association have both tossed in their full support for his re-election! Aside from the aforementioned Obama's support for the Employee Free Choice legislation quickly sputtered out and is nowhere on the horizon of the Democratic Party's platform. Yet organized labor continues to blindly follow and support the Democratic Party.

 

I realize that many trade unionists have this deeply ingrained belief that the DP is the party "friendly" to labor, citing the accomplishments of President Franklin D. Roosevelt with the New Deal. Under the New Deal Roosevelt signed into law Social Security, unemployment benefits, public housing, the Works Project Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps, the National Labor Relations Act, all programs that benefited the American working class during Great Depression I. Unfortunatley many trade unionists are not aware that the Democrats did not give us anything! These vital programs were signed into law as workers especially those affiliated with the left led CIO demanded these benefits through mass demonstrations, sit down strikes and other militant actions in the streets and job sites! Roosevelt in order to avoid out and out revolution was forced to sign these programs/benefits into law!

 

Today we are in the midst of Great Depression II as over 25 million U.S. workers are unemployed and countless others remain underemployed! Yet our current president has publicly stated that he is "counting on the private sector" to provide the U.S. needed jobs. THE PRIVATE SECTOR SENT MOST OF OUR BASIC INDUSTRIAL JOBS OVERSEAS! Duh! Unfortunatley the current labor movement lacks sufficient left wingers leading it and/or the vision to see that a corporatist president isn't going to do very much on behalf of workers and their families!

 

The idea of the late Tony Mazzochi is still very relevant today. Especially in light of the reactionary assault on labor and the austerity forced upon us as corporations continue to rake in record profits! We must continue to advocate for a genuine people's party that will speak out for workers and their families, people of color, the environment, peace, gays & lesbians and others who have been ignored and betrayed by both the Democratic and Republican parties! Above all this new party must refuse to accept corporate bribes disguised as "campaign donations" and fully support our federal Constitution, something the two major parties continue to violate!

 

In closing I urge all trade unionists to give serious consideration to what I have tried to communicate to you. My hope is by 2016 we will have in place a genuine people's party that will rise from the actions of the 99% in the streets across the nation!

Pancho Valdez is a trade unionist residing in San Antonio and is an active member of the Bexar County Greens Party.