AFL-CIO DEBATES NICARAGUA ISSUE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000604920014-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 20, 2012
• Sequence Number: 14
• Publication Date: October 30, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
) Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/12/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000604920014-9
ARTICLE A
ON PAGE
By Peter Vert
Washington Post Staff Writer
WASHINGTON POST
30 October 1985
AFL-CIO Debates
Nicaragua Issue
Labor Hits (I.S. Central, American Policy
ANAHEIM, Calif.,' Oct. 29-Af-
ter an unusually sharp behind-the-
scenes debate, the AFL-CIO today
criticized the Reagan administra-
tion's emphasis on the use of mil-
itary force against Nicaragua's San-
dinista government but stopped
short of opposing military aid to the
antigovernment rebels.
This compromise resolution,
adopted here at the labor federa-
tion's 30th anniversary convention,
masked a strong conflict between
union officials traditionally support-
ive of U.S. foreign policy and those
who have been more critical, now
and in the past.
Central America, particularly the
question of aid to the Nicaraguan
counterrevolutionaries, or contras,
emerged as the most controversial
issue among many of the delegates
representing 96 AFL-CIO unions at
the convention, who debated-
mostly in private-the threat of
communism and the dangers of pos-
sible U.S. intervention.
The debate has been fueled by a
group of 20 union presidents who in
1983 formed a committee that vis-
ited Central America and issued
reports critical of U.S.. policies
there, which the AFL-CIO has gen-
erally supported.
AFL-CIO President Lane Kirk-
land and other federation officials
opposed the committee's actions
and sought a compromise resolution
that would condemn the Sandinistas
for suppressing civil liberties and
union activities, but leave open the
question of U.S. support for the
contras seeking to overthrow the
Sandinista government.
More than a dozen resolutions
were submitted here by unions op-
posing contra aid. The United Auto
Workers and the American Feder-
ation of State, County and Munic-
ipal Employees and several oth r
major .unions pushed the AFL-C'
to adopt language opposing aid to
the contras.
After days of wrangling, the Cen-
tral America resolution approved
today included'a compromise state-
ment:
"Unfortunately, the Reagan ad-
ministration continues to place em-
phasis on a military, rather than a
political, solution to the conflicts in
Nicaragua and El Salvador. But the
AFL-CIO believes that a negotiated
settlement, rather than a military
victory,.. holds the best hope for the
social, economic and political justice
that the people of Nicaragua and El
Salvador deserve."
Kirkland, in an emotional speech,
strongly defended the AFL-CIO
position as "a liberal resolution that
stands foursquare for everything
the labor movement stands for."
The AFL-CIO, which long had
supported increased defense spend-
ing and rarely criticized U.S. mil-
itary actions during George
Meany's tenure as president, has
moved slowly toward a posture
more critical of U.S. foreign policy,
according to union officials.
The AFL-CIO operates five in-
ternational affairs programs- that
receive more than $35 million in
government funds to promote eco-
nomic development and foster an-
ticommunist unions overseas. Op-
ponents within organized labor con-
tend that the link between the gov-
ernment and the AFL-CIO has re-
sulted in the federation's support-
ing right-wing regimes in Central
America and the Philippines.
Irving Brown,. the ,AFL-CIO's
Paris-based international affairs
director, said in,an interview that
"Mr. Reagan did not create the con-
tras,.the oppression by the Sandi-
nistas created the contras:" He said
aid to the contras should remain a
U.S. option to prevent the creation
of "a second Cuba."
Between 1981 .and 1984, the
Central Intelligence Agency fun-
neled $80 million in aid to the con-
tras, but Congress this year passed
a $27 million "non-lethal" aid pack-
aae that bars CIA and Defense De
partment involvement.
UAW, AFSCME and other unions
agreed to the compromise because
its wording enables them to contin-
ue their strong Capitol Hill lobbying
against aid to the contras.
Donald Stillman, UAW's inter-
national affairs director, said, "We
wanted a much stronger statement,
but this moves the federation slowly
in the right direction."
Albert Shanker, president of the
American Federation of Teachers,
said it was important for the AFL-
CIO to leave the contra issue open
because the threat of U.S. support
"could be used a bargaining chip"
with the Sandinistas to get them to
make changes.
But Edwar4 Asner, president of
the Screen Actors Guild, said he
reluctantly agreed to support the
compromise even though it could
allow for support of the contras,
which he called "unforgivable."
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/12/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000604920014-9