Randy Atkinson, president of the local firefighters union, said he will wait until a committee overseeing the state chapter of the AFL-CIO develops a plan for the organization’s future before deciding whether his union should stay in the federation.
Other local unions, riled by a takeover that began in January, also are considering whether to stop paying a portion of their members’ dues to the chapter until it returns to local control. Laborers Local 578 in Colorado Springs already has begun withholding the assessment.
But while a number of labor leaders are upset by the takeover, it is unlikely that many will abandon the AFL-CIO, said Mark Schwane, executive director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. “I haven’t seen any sign of mass mutiny at this point.”
National AFL-CIO president John Sweeney “has emphasized that we need everybody to participate to build a stronger, more unified labor movement,” national AFL-CIO spokeswoman Esmeralda Aguilar said in an e-mail.
The national AFL-CIO seized control after relations between state chapter president Steve Adams and secretary-treasurer Paul Mendrick deteriorated. Affiliated unions sided with one or the other in disputes, and Sweeney feared the bickering would jeopardize political gains labor has made recently in the state.
A pair of trustees sent by the national office are now in control. They are working with an advisory committee made up of 18 local labor leaders representing 94 percent of union affiliates in the state.
The trustees decided that Adams and Mendrick should be removed from the AFL-CIO’s payroll, and the committee recently voted to do so. Adams had asked the national to step in and help resolve the disputes.
“When Steve (Adams) asked for help from the national, you have kind of put it out of your hands and you are stuck with the help you get,” said David Sanger, president of AFT Colorado, a teachers union.
Sanger expects the national to control the state chapter through the 2008 election cycle. His union isn’t considering holding back dues payments.
The committee will decide how much local affiliates should take from their members’ dues to pay to the state chapter and how that money will be used, said Atkinson, president of the Colorado Professional Fire Fighters union.
A plan will include details on political action, lobbying and organizing, Atkinson said. “If they try to offer a $1.50 product that is worth 50 cents, then I am going to have to take my money elsewhere.”
Even if the firefighters drop out of the AFL-CIO to handle their own political activities, Atkinson said the union could rejoin at a future date. “I would just direct that money into my own political program. If I did that, and a year from now when the product is worth the money, I would come back in.”
The advisory committee, which includes members from Atkinson’s and Sanger’s unions, will have to rebuild the state chapter from the ground up, Atkinson said.
“They are rebuilding and putting together the best plan they can and they will put a price tag on it, and everybody will decide whether they are going to pay or not,” he said.
Staff writer Tom McGhee can be reached at 303-954-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com.
