Steve Diamond: To suggest that the AFL-CIO is racist and conservative is, frankly, absurd. This is particularly true in light of the near decade long evolution of the AFL-CIO - under both Kirkland and Sweeney, I might add - to express an independent perspective on foreign policy, beginning with their opposition to NAFTA, developing into the Campaign for Global Fairness and a new progressive view on immigration (both of which were reaffirmed at the recent AFL-CIO Convention).
============== So why does the AFL-CIO have member unions building weapons that are used against workers in other countries --Israel and Turkey to name just two? We won't even go into their position on Afghanistan. Why have the Machinists signed up for Son of Star Wars? And how come Bernard didn't come out and blast the China campaign when it was getting off the ground as the knuckleheads in DC, who paid no attention to 'the Seattle Coalition' that lives in Seattle and on the left coast, wasted so much effort on a intricate form of xenophobia? Her position paper that came out after the fact, while insightful, was a case of Monday morning quarterbacking. And what's their view of immigration after 9-11? Ian
