Labor Notes Compiled by Jeff Burman Bye-Bye Bella Bella Abzug dead at 78 Bella Abzug wore many hats in a long and impassioned career as a public advocate and activist. She was a labor and civil rights attorney during the bleak days of the McCarthy period, defending blacklisted teachers, writers and entertainers. She co-founded, in 1961, Women Strike for Peace, which fought for a nuclear weapons test ban. A three-term member of the House of Representatives, she left an indelible impression. When she entered the House for the first time, a page demanded she remove her signature hat. (She had adopted the "big hat" strategy so as not to be mistaken for a secretary. Remember, she came up in the 1950s). Bella responded with characteristic bluntness, telling the page to "perform an impossible sex act," as National Public Radio deftly put it. On the same day she introduced a resolution calling for the withdrawal of troops from Viet Nam. Later, she introduced the first resolution calling for the impeachment of Richard Nixon, the first federal gay civil rights bill and co-authored the Freedom of Information and Right to Privacy acts. At the end of her tenure in the House, a U.S. News & World Report poll of her colleagues called her the third most influential member of Congress. She continued her work as a courageous, uncompromising feminist until the end. To her, the women's movement was an engine for social justice. Bella was an inspiration to millions across the globe. More Americans Join Unions AFL-CIO Executive Council meets in Las Vegas As a tribute to AFL-CIO President John Sweeney's activism - "changing to organize, organizing to change" - new figures herald a rise in union membership. Some 400,000 Americans were added to union rolls last year. In light of this modest gain - union membership as a percentage of the workforce has been declining for longer than we care to mention - labor's adversaries have not been slow to respond. Witness the travesty of California's "paycheck protection" initiative, prop.226. Needless to say, the AFL-CIO did not take this assault lying down. The AFL-CIO dispatched hundreds of experienced organizers to California, and earmarked at least $15 million to stem the tide here. Other advocacy efforts include television campaigns promoting a higher minimum wage and expanded employer-provided health care. Despite glowing oratory at the AFL-CIO's conclave by guests Bill Clinton, Al Gore and Dick Gephardt, most unionists know that it would be foolish to believe that any politician is going to do our work for us. The AFL-CIO will have to continue to expand its membership and will have to build, in the words of AFL-CIO Organizing Director Richard Bensinger, a "movement of outrage" against restrictive U.S. labor law and for the right to organize. Hoffa Cleared To Run His campaign fined $193,146 for irregularities James P. Hoffa has been judged fit to run for president of the Teamsters. Michael Cherkasky, the Teamsters' court-appointed election monitor, found several fundraising violations in his review of Hoffa's 1996 campaign but ruled that none was serious enough to disqualify him from facing his new opponent, Ken Hall. Hall, 41, was a leader of last summer's stunning Teamster strike against United Parcel Service. Ron Carey, the former Teamster president, was disqualified from running, for complicity in an illegal fundraising money-swap and his top lobbyist, William Hamilton, Jr., has been indicted on six felony counts related to the 1996 money laundering scheme. Whoever wins, the re-running of the election for president of the Teamsters will, by virtue of its 1.4 million members, have a profound influence on the AFL-CIO leadership.   Reprinted from The Motion Picture Editors Guild Newsletter Vol. 19, No. 3 - May/June 1998   Guild Home | Newsletter Home | Top of Page   Copyright © 1998, All Rights Reserved by The Motion Picture Editors Guild, IATSE Local 776