Word: afl
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...sweeping denunciation of what he called "occult economic experiments on the American people." AFL-CIO President Lane Kirkland charged last night that the Reagan budget "helps the wealthy at the expense of middle-class workers and the poor, comforts the comfortable, and afflicts the afflicted...
While interest groups throughout the country were digesting President Reagan's economic plan last week and groping toward protest or endorsement, labor leaders were practically organized for the occasion. Reagan's speech coincided with the winter meeting of the AFL-CIO executive council, a group made up of heads of 32 major unions representing 13.6 million workers. Skies were cloudy above the Bal Harbour, Fla., meeting, which was dominated by behind-the-scenes discussion of Reagan's program...
Generally, and perhaps expectably, the reviews were bad. "A high-risk gamble with the future of America" was AFL-CIO President Lane Kirkland's verdict. Said he: "Workers and the poor take the lion's share of the risk. The only sure winners are the wealthy, whether they are individuals or corporations." Echoed Jerry Wurf, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees: "What we are seeing is the beginning of an Administration that will do two things-reward the rich and screw the poor." William Winpisinger, liberal head of the machinists union, advocated giving...
...AFL-CIO asserts that the President's policies will bring misery to its members and, in the end, cost more than a million jobs. So the labor leaders are pushing a few alternatives to the Reagan spending cuts. They would prefer to lower federal budget deficits by reducing interest rates through selective credit controls and reduce unemployment through direct jobs programs. They are flatly opposed to such pet Republican proposals as a subminimum wage for teen-agers and the dismantling of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. In addition, the union believes that individual tax cuts should be focused...
...AFL-CIO is likely to have its own problems in selling a program. At present, it is a house divided among 105 unions that include conservative construction workers, government employees, garment workers who make an average of $6,500 a year and airline pilots who sometimes earn more than $100,000. As a result, Reagan's promises of tax relief last November were appealing to many of the nation's better-paid union members. Though the AFL-CIO officially supported Carter, many among the rank and file refused to go along. In a postelection poll of working-class...