American workers just lost one of their greatest champions | Opinion

John J. Sweeney op-ed

Former AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney and Susan Schurman, a Distinguished Professor and former dean at Rutgers University, at the first commencement of the National Labor College in Silver Spring, Maryland in 1999.

By Susan Schurman

I’ll never forget walking into Reagan National Airport and seeing my boss, John J. Sweeney, the formidable president of the AFL-CIO, heading for the check-in line by himself.

Normally, anyone of his stature would be surrounded by an entourage of lieutenants and staff. But there he was, all alone, pulling his own suitcase. I walked over to say hello and he immediately asked, “Can I take your bag, Sue?” I actually laughed out loud and responded, “I think I am supposed to take yours, Boss.”

Sweeney, who led the nation’s largest federation of labor unions from 1995 to 2009, but never lost the character and values that made him a regular guy, passed away Monday at the age of 86. His death is a blow to workers in New Jersey and across the country.

The son of working-class immigrants, Sweeney was elected president at a time when the labor movement was confronting the challenges of globalization. American industrial unions were hemorrhaging members, and a resurgent right-wing assault on workers’ rights to organize and unionize made it increasingly difficult to turn the tide.

Sweeney’s steadfast focus on convincing the Federation’s member unions to return to their roots and organize workers launched the biggest change in the American labor movement since the merger of the AFL and the CIO in 1955. He also led unions away from the Cold War obsession with anti-communism toward support for democracy around the world.

Committed to diversity, Sweeney hired women and historically underrepresented minorities into leadership positions on his staff. Despite pressure to hire one of the “good ole boys,” he chose me, a 50-year-old gay woman, to serve as founding president of the AFL-CIO’s premier training center, the National Labor College, from 1997 to 2007. It grew from a small labor studies center into a fully-accredited, degree-granting institution because of his unqualified support for improving workers’ access to higher education.

On a personal level, Sweeney was the most impressive boss I ever worked for. Unfailingly respectful, fair, and willing to listen to new ideas and differing opinions. He stood up for the rights of workers, especially low-wage workers, and he never let his lofty position go to his head.

I remember bumping into Sweeney at Baltimore’s Pimlico Race Course one year before the Preakness Stakes. Again, no entourage. Just Sweeney walking around by himself, talking with workers, because that’s what he did. We ended up wandering around the track together, sampling offerings at the drinks tent, and betting. We both lost.

But that’s the kind of guy he was: a labor leader who would show up at events, large and small, all over the country, if he felt workers would appreciate his being there. Sweeney was imbued with the ethos of Catholic social justice teachings. These values governed his life and work, and he never strayed.

May you rest in peace John, knowing that, through your work, the torch has passed to another generation and, through us, will be passed again. Solidarity Forever!

Susan Schurman is a Distinguished Professor and former Dean of the School of Management and Labor Relations at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.

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