Thirteen different unions (and three additional contracts) represent Broadway workers and BroadwayWorld is spotlighting each and every one of them. Today, learn all about 32BJ SEIU.
The contract must be rejected, but this is only the first step. Workers must independently organize and build rank-and-file committees to prepare a fighting strategy to ensure their demands for a living wage are met.
John Sweeney
Sweeney and his successor, current AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, ran alongside Linda Chavez-Thompson as a “New Voice” slate for the top jobs at the October 1995 AFL-CIO convention. Sweeney, who had then been president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) for 15 years and a member of the labor federation’s Executive Council, defeated former President Lane Kirkland’s successor, Tom Donahue.
It was the first contested election in AFL-CIO history, and Sweeney became the third AFL-CIO president since the federation formed in 1955. (It was led by George Meany from 1955 to 1980, and Kirkland had been Meany’s number two.) Two months before Sweeney’s October 1995 election, Kirkland had resigned when it became clear he’d be ousted in the wake of the GOP’s 1994 congressional sweep and the AFL-CIO’s failure to stop the NAFTA pact or pass legislation banning the permanent replacement of strikers.
John Sweeney, AFL-CIO president between 1995 and 2009, dies at 86 wsws.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wsws.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.