Territorial Dispute at AFL-CIO Highlights Obstacles in Holding Federation Together

Union fights over which can organize and represent certain workers aren't uncommon, particularly in these days of dwindling membership. But while labor leaders universally lament the waste of energy and resources, they have yet to figure out an effective way to resolve the disputes.

This quarrel, over an effort in Illinois, is significant because it involves leading protagonists in a fierce debate over the federation's future, with one threatening to pull his union out of the AFL-CIO. Both cite the tussle as reason not to trust the other.

Andrew Stern, president of the 1.8-million-member Service Employees International Union, complained that his union worked for 10 years to lay the groundwork for organizing 49,000 child-care workers in Illinois, only to be undercut at the last minute by the rival American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which has 1.3 million members.

In late February, AFSCME filed a petition with the state that delayed the certification of about 20,000 workers who had signed SEIU union cards. AFSCME President Gerald McEntee said his union, already representing a significant number of child-care providers, was running a comprehensive national campaign to organize more.

"We're the largest child-care union in the United States," McEntee said. "That is our core industry."

Stern, he said, should heed his own call to limit unions' organizing to their core industries -- or at least allow the Illinois workers to vote on which union to join.

The talk grew heated Thursday, the final day of a three-day AFL-CIO Executive Council meeting that was supposed to build labor unity.

Stern said both unions could reasonably lay claim to the growing field of child care and should be considered equals in that field. But because of all the work it put into the Illinois campaign, he said, SEIU should have sole jurisdiction there.

At the final closed session of the executive council, made up of most national unions, Stern asked AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney to intervene.

"I wanted President Sweeney to speak on behalf of those workers and use every power he has to convince Mr. McEntee to withdraw his petition," he said.