In September 2006, NLPC published a Special Report titled Common Cause with America’s Enemies: How Labor Unions Embraced Antiwar Extremism. Authored by Dr. Carl Horowitz, the director of NLPC’s Organized Labor Accountability Project, the report details the close relationships between union leaders and anti-war activists. Click here or on image at right to download 28-page pdf of Special Report.
According to Horowitz, “It’s no secret that much of the opposition to our military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan is anti-American, and not simply antiwar. Prominent self-styled ‘peace activists’ such as Cindy Sheehan, Leslie Cagan and Ramsey Clark rarely waste an opportunity to portray America as the number-one obstacle to world peace. What may be less known is the prominent role that many of the nation’s labor unions have had in promoting this view.”
The report analyzes the alliance between union activists and Communist-allied organizations such as Code Pink, A.N.S.W.E.R., and United for Peace and Justice as the culmination of a process that began more than 30 years ago. Whereas organized labor, under the leadership of AFL-CIO President George Meany (1955-79) and Lane Kirkland (1979-95) promoted liberal anti-Communism, federation President John Sweeney has virtually ratified an embrace of anti-Americanism.
The paper introduces the reader to the tight and incestuous anti-war network that opposes U.S. interests, not just U.S. policy. Locals of such prominent unions as the Service Employees International Union, the Sheet Metal Workers and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers have joined the activities of the network.
The Report concludes that Congress should repeal the forced-dues collection clause contained in the National Labor Relations Act so that rank-and-file union members are not required to subsidize subversion.