John J. Sweeney, a tough-talking New Yorker who evokes an earlier era in labor's history, today was elected president of the AFL-CIO in the first openly contested leadership election in the 40-year history of the labor federation.
Declaring "an extraordinary moment of hope and promise for the future," Sweeney accepted the convention gavel and immediately assumed the top office amid cheers after the tally was announced.
Sweeney, 61, president of the Service Employees International Union, defeated his one-time mentor, incumbent Thomas R. Donahue, by a vote of 7.3 million to 5.6 million.
Although Sweeney issued strong pleas for unity from the podium that were echoed by other top union officials, a trace of the bitterness raised during the unprecedented election fight lingered. Donahue was not on hand to pass the gavel, having left the hall before voting began and never returning. "He isn't that much of a masochist," an AFL-CIO aide said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Sweeney accepted the gavel from American Federation of Teachers leader Albert Shanker, one of Donahue's most ardent supporters. No public congratulations were proffered.
In a short, emotional address, Sweeney invoked the names of former labor leaders George Meany and Lane Kirkland in asking union members to bind up the wounds opened in the election. "This can be a great day for all of us, but only if we get back to the business at hand," Sweeney said.
At a later news conference, Sweeney said he would embrace, "if necessary," the use of civil disobedience and more militant tactics to further labor's goals. He also indicated that he would conduct a general housecleaning at the AFL-CIO's headquarters. An aide said he planned to review all operations.
Sweeney's lieutenant, United Mine Workers President Richard Trumka, 46, was elected secretary-treasurer by a wide margin. He defeated incumbent Barbara Easterling, a coal miner's daughter, who was the first woman to hold executive office in the AFL-CIO.
To keep a woman at the top of labor's ranks, however, the convention approved establishing a third executive office and immediately elected Linda Chavez-Thompson to the post. A veteran organizer for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees in Texas, Chavez-Thompson is the daughter of Mexican field workers and one of the few Hispanics in a leadership position.
Sweeney's team now must lead labor into a future that will depend heavily on its ability to attract more women and minorities to its ranks if it is to survive as a force in the U.S. workplace.
The new leadership has pledged to spend a minimum of $20 million a year on training and organizing new members, eight times the $2.5 million now spent. They also vow to infuse a militancy into the labor movement it fears teeters on the brink of irrelevancy.
"This is their last chance; I hope they realize that," said Monsignor George Higgins, a Roman Catholic priest well-known for his work with organized labor, who was attending the convention. "They'll never get another chance."
The dramatic political upheaval within the AFL-CIO comes at a time when organized labor is in serious trouble, its membership declining and its political fortunes on the wane. Union members nationwide have been losing their jobs, particularly in the once high-paying manufacturing industries as corporations continue to shed workers to meet the test of competition or take advantage of technological change.
"The people we represent are getting the absolute hell kicked out of them," Douglas Dority, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, told the convention. Dority, a Donahue supporter, served as the peacemaker between the Donahue and Sweeney camps to put together a "unity" slate of candidates for the executive council in an effort to tamp down the bitterness from the rare political fight.
To add diversity to the federation's leadership, the convention voted to expand the AFL-CIO's ruling executive council from 33 to 51 members, with a minimum of 10 seats designated for women and minorities to better reflect the changes in today's union membership.
The rarity of a contested election for the AFL-CIO leadership was underscored when both sides had to sit down and write election rules from scratch earlier this week. There had never been a need for them before. In the past, leaders were picked in back-room deals and the conventions simply certified the choices by voice vote.
As the nation evolved from a manufacturing to a service-based economy, unions have had little success in organizing the millions of low-paid workers in retail, finance, hospitality and other service-sector industries. Membership in the AFL-CIO is 13 million, the lowest level since 1967. Unions today represent less than 10 percent of the nation's private-sector work force, down from a high of more than a third of the work force immediately following World War II.
Today's election marks the end of a successful political revolt that began nearly a year ago with the simple goal of convincing then-federation president Kirkland to retire. As the campaign to oust Kirkland became public, however, it became clear that a majority of the leaders of the AFL-CIO wanted greater change than just a new face at the top.
By June, with unions representing a clear majority of the federation's membership opposing him, the 72-year-old Kirkland announced he would retire in August, turning the reins of the AFL-CIO over to Donahue until this week's convention. Donahue had been secretary-treasurer of the organization throughout Kirkland's 16 years as president. CAPTION: John Sweeney, left, and Richard Trumka acknowledge their election as president and secretary-treasurer, respectively, at the AFL-CIO convention .