KIRKLAND CAUTIONS UNIONS ABOUT PRO-SANDINISTA RALLY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000504150003-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 20, 2012
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: April 21, 1987
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504150003-7
-TICLE '
04 PAGE PAGE ZZA,"
Kirkland cautions unions
WASHINGTON TIMES
21 April 1987
about pro-Sandinista rally
By Rita McWilliams
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
AFL-CIO President Lane Kirk-
land-is warning his 13 million a or
union members not to support Satur-
day's anti-Reagan administration
rally, contending that its sponsors ig-
nore the Sandinista's repression of
labor unions in Nicaragua.
"It is possible to criticize the Rea-
gan administration's policies toward
Nicaragua without embracing the
Sandinista regime; it is possible to
criticize the administration's poli-
cies toward El Salvador without sup-
porting the guerrilla movement," Mr.
Kirkland wrote in letters sent last
month to union affiliates around the
country, warning them that rally
sponsors support both the Sandin-
istas and the Salvadoran guerrillas.
But rally organizers said they still
expect union members to constitute
the bulk of the 100,000 participants
they hope will attend Saturday's
rally on the Ellipse.
Amy Carter, actor Ed Asner and
the Rev. Jesse Jackson are
scheduled to speak during _t He
weekend-long events sponsored by a
consortium of groups that oppose
administration policies in Central
America and South Africa. The
event will end on av with a civil
disobedience protest at the CIA.
Organizers of the rally - called
the Mobilization for Justice and
Peace in Central America and
Southern Africa - include the Com-
munist Party, the Christic Institute,
Committee in Solidarity with the
People of El Salvador [CISPES] -
which supports the Marxist guerril-
las there - and the U.S. Peace Coun-
cil, which is considered a
communist-front organization.
In letters sent March 23 to local
union leaders around the country,
Mr. Kirkland wrote that positions
backed by the organizers of the rally
are contrary to AFL-CIO policy. Spe-
cifically, he cited organizers' sup-
port of the Sandinista's repression of
the trade union movement in Nicara-
gua and ending aid to the emerging
democracies in El Salvador, Hondu-
ras and Guatemala.
Mr. Kirkland was a member of the
Kissinger Commission, which Pres-
ident Reagan appointed in his first
term to develop a long-range plan to
promote democracy in Central
America.
"The Sandinistas have repressed
independent trade unionism since
the very beginning of their rule,
using intimidation, harassment and
violence to force workers to join
government-created unions," Mr.
Kirkland wrote. "And in El Salvador
the guerrillas attempt to control and
use trade unions to serve their pur-
poses, much in the style of company
unions"
He said those who oppose Reagan
administration policy in Central
America need not embrace either
the Marxist Sandinista government
or the Marxist guerrillas in El Salva-
dor.
"That is the AFL-CIO's position; it
is not the position of a number of the
organizations that constitute the
steering committee for the April
25th rallies, some of which openly
support the Marxist-Leninist guer-
rillas in El Salvador and support the
Sandinista government of Nicara-
gua," he wrote.
Administration officials,
searching for new ways to win sup-
port in Congress for continued aid to
the Nicaraguan resistance, wel-
comed the letters.
"What's been happening is tradi-
tional solidarity politics," said one
State Department official. "They
send communist labor union repre-
sentatives up here from Central
America to talk with labor groups,
and they are just introduced as labor
union leaders."
"It's an attempt to misrepresent
the labor situation to attract sup-
port;' the official said. The letters
"call a lie to all this, saying elements
of the labor union movement are be-
ing used, which, of course, they are."
Will Marshall, policy director for
the moderate Democratic Leader-
ship Council, said Mr. Kirkland's po-
sition taken in the letters "perform a
real service in pointing out that op-
position to the Contra policy
shouldn't be confused for support of
the Sandinista regime."
"Those who are opposed to Contra
aid still bear the burden of taking an
honest look at Sandinista repression
and the democratic rights of work-
ing people;' Mr. Marshall said.
Letters similar to the ones written
by Mr. Kirkland were mailed by
John Joyce, president of the Interna-
tional Union of Bricklayers & Allied
Craftsmen, to the local chapters
which represent 135,000 members
nationwide.
Despite the warnings by the two
union leaders, a number of other la-
bor groups around the country con-
tinue to support the planned rally.
Among these are the Newspaper
Guild, the Machinists Union and the
American Federation, of Govern-
ment Employees.
The 750,000-member American
Federation of State, County and Mu-
nicipal Workers also will continue to
endorse the event,
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504150003-7