Word: afl
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...AFL-CIO plots a strategy...
...policies of Ronald Reagan in the midst of 1982's record unemployment, which last week reached a new 41-year high of 9.8%, it was not particularly happy with Jimmy Carter in the White House either. In 1980 Carter got labor's nod, but after the election, AFL-CIO President Lane Kirkland urged that his federation change its political approach to avoid facing "a choice between Dracula and Frankenstein." Last week the AFL-CIO moved to prevent a horror show...
Under the new plan, the AFL-CIO'S 99 affiliated unions will collectively endorse a presidential candidate, if two-thirds can agree. Given labor's current woes, the choice will probably be a Democrat. However, if an acceptable Republican emerges, a separate G.O.P. endorsement may be made. One problem with this scheme: the early endorsement could help a front runner who might fade in the stretch. Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy currently leads the parade, followed by former Vice President Walter Mondale. Senator Gary Hart of Colorado, invited to address the New York meeting, was worried that the plan...
Kirkland argued that if labor leaders waited until several key primaries had taken place, they would be "surrendering before we have a chance to have a go at it." Still, even union officials who like the idea admit that there is no guarantee that an AFL-CIO endorsement will bind every local. "I can't stand here and tell you that no one will jump the traces," said William Winpisinger, president of the machinists. Nonetheless, union officials believe that Reaganomics will provide reason enough to keep everyone in line. Recent polls indicate that union members who voted for Reagan...
More than 450 national organizations, from the AFL-CIO to the Y.W.C.A. to the American Jewish Committee, endorsed the amendment. Polls showed consistently that its passage was favored by more than two-thirds of U.S. citizens. Indeed, the idea of an ERA is hardly new. It was proposed in 1923 by Feminist Alice Paul, founder of the National Woman's Party, and that same year was introduced in Congress, where it languished for decades. The modern campaign began in 1967, when a stubborn Paul, then 82, persuaded the National Organization for Women to endorse the amendment. By 1972, partly...