Sweeney Takes Charge Afl-Cio’s Combative New Leader Hits The Streets On First Day In Office

One day after taking control of the AFL-CIO, John J. Sweeney led a march to protest garment district sweatshops and demonstrate the more aggressive leadership he promises to bring to the labor movement.

Marching down Broadway and through Times Square with other labor activists, Sweeney said he wanted to be in the streets on his first day on the job.

“It sends a great message,” he said Thursday. “It’s an indication of how committed we are to helping workers who are exploited.”

Sweeney’s union, the Service Employees International Union, has used traffic disruption and other civil disobedience to draw attention to workers’ causes, but some union presidents have questioned whether such actions could backfire.

At a rally of nearly 2,000 unionists that blocked all but one lane of Eighth Avenue in New York’s garment district, Sweeney said “greedy employers” were holding wages down. Other speakers included Labor Secretary Robert Reich, who denounced employers who “treat the workers like animals.”

Thomas R. Donahue, whom Sweeney ousted from the presidency of the 13-million-member federation Wednesday, has warned against antagonizing the public at a time when labor needs to recruit more supporters.

Unions represent just 15 percent of the work force, well down from the levels of decades ago. And Donahue said in a debate, “The path down which you now propose to take this movement will marginalize us and consign us to the fringes of society for generations to come.”

Even some of Sweeney’s staunchest supporters expressed reservations this week about becoming too confrontational.

Ron Carey, president of the 1.3-million-member Teamsters, said that blocking traffic or similar actions should be considered a last resort.

“I think there has to be a very thoughtful decision when you inconvenience the public,” he said.

The “Justice for Janitors” campaign run by Sweeney’s union sometimes blocks traffic, covers street posts with posters denouncing building owners and employs other public tactics to pressure employers.

Recently he brought 3,000 union members with him as a show of strength when he testified before a Los Angeles County executive board.

In his acceptance speech Thursday, Sweeney made it clear he intended to turn the labor federation into an aggressive agent on behalf of workers.

“If anyone denies American workers their constitutional right to freedom of association, we will use oldfashioned mass demonstrations as well as sophisticated corporate campaigns to make worker rights the civil rights issue of the 1990s,” he said.