California's leading union organization, bucking organized labor's long-standing neutrality on the issue of abortion, is for the first time taking a strong stand in favor of abortion rights.
Meeting behind closed doors last month, the California Labor Federation -- which represents more than 2.1 million workers belonging to more than 1,100 affiliated unions -- voted to oppose Proposition 85, a November ballot initiative that would require doctors to notify parents before performing abortions on minors. In a policy statement, the labor federation also urged the national AFL-CIO "to reconsider its position of neutrality on the issue."
Union leaders say polling shows that a majority of their members support abortion rights, but major labor organizations generally have avoided taking stances that would turn off those members with strong moral objections to abortion.
The most recent written version of the national AFL-CIO policy, adopted in 1990, says that though union members "resent and resist government intrusion into matters that are essentially private," the AFL-CIO yields on the subject of abortion "to the good and sound judgment of union members.... Sincere and dedicated trade unionists can be found on both sides of these issues."
Albin Rhomberg, one of the organizers of the Yes on 85 campaign, denounced the California federation's vote and suggested that the unions were out of step with their members on parental notification.
"I don't think the vote represents union members," Rhomberg said.
AFL-CIO officials in Washington said they were unaware of any other labor federation in the country that had taken a position like California's.
Academics who study labor called the California federation's move potentially precedent-setting and noted that in the past the state's unions have been early advocates for national change, most recently in the push to make the labor movement more open to immigrants.
"Most Americans are pro-choice, and taking this step ... is a pretty major and bold statement that they want to take a leadership role in changing the debate around the right to choose," said Peter Dreier, director of the Urban and Environmental Policy Program at Occidental College and a close observer of California's labor movement.
"As unions become weaker, as traditional allies fall away, unions can rely increasingly on the liberal left and the radical left," said Nelson Lichtenstein, a leading scholar of labor history at UC Santa Barbara. "Abortion rights are key issues for American liberals, and these are their allies."
