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AFL-CIO Convention 11/15/89 [OA 3540]
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6
6
4
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
November 15, 1989
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
TO THE AFL-CIO CONVENTION
The Sheraton Washington Hotel
Washington, D.C.
3:40 P.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all very much. Lane Kirkland,
thank you, sir. Tom Donahue and, of course, your special guest and
our special guest -- America's special guest -- Lech Walesa.
(Applause.) I've got some good news for you and some bad news for
you. After Lech Walesa's stirring ovation before the United States
Congress today, it is clear that he's ready to run for office in the
United States. (Applause.) Bad news for some of you is he's going
to run as a Republican. Thank you very much. (Laughter.) Now, I
knew you'd like that -- come on.
No, but in all seriousness, this is a great moment for
the AFL-CIO. After eight long years of struggle, Mr. Walesa has
accepted the George Meany Human Rights Award, first intended for
Solidarnosc. Back in 1981, you remember, Lech wasn't allowed to be
here to claim that prize. And the waiting began.
I can really identify with Lech. (Laughter.) I
understand what it's like to wait so long to get here. But I don't
regret a minute of it because, after all it is great to be with you
-- and to see the members who endorsed me sitting back there in the
back row over there. (Laughter.) All four of them. (Laughter and
applause.)
Lately I have been feeling pretty confident. Barbara had
a hunch that I'd be addressing this group today. And this morning
she caught me in the shower singing the "Union Yes" theme song.
(Laughter.)
Let me begin sincerely by congratulating the leadership.
And some of you were over at the White House the other day and I
really wish every one of you could have been there for the ceremony
in which, not only was Lech Walesa honored by the country, but Lane
Kirkland was as well. (Applause.) He's now serving his 10th year,
continuing the work begun by George Meany before him -- your unions
truly are uniting under the banner of the AFL-CIO, as Lane promised.
UAW, Mine Workers, Teamsters, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers,
Longshoremen, Warehousemen's Union, Writer's Guild East -- all have
affirmed their ties to this great organization. Lane Kirkland has
done -- as he continues to do -- outstanding work on behalf of
organized labor. (Applause.)
And his work to consolidate and renew labor's strength
gives the AFL-CIO the power to play its best role -- protecting the
rights of working Americans at home and striving for those rights
abroad through the support of democracy around the world.
Labor has been an enduring force for freedom --
(applause) -- at times a lonely cry in the wilderness, at times the
conductor of a thundering chorus -- rejecting all forms of
totalitarianism, fascist and communist alike. With each passing
year, through the labor movement, freedom is finding its voice.
You understand that democracy rests not on cold marble
MORE
- 2 -
and pieces of paper, but on institutions freely formed -- fully free.
Look down the main street of any small town and you see them --
churches, libraries, schools, union halls. Free associations that
are the beating heart of American liberty.
Such liberty calls for a democracy created less by
governments than by people -- through the give-and-take of competing
interests, and individual and collective. A democracy that rejects
management-by-decree or intervention from any centralized,
all-knowing government. A democracy where people speak for
themselves, rather than a government which speaks for them.
You and I -- look, I know that we have differences. But
those differences are a sign of democratic life -- a way of life that
demands respect for differences -- and respects an honest opinion as
much as it respects an honest day's work. And that is the kind of
frankness and directness I get from the leaders of this union --
these unions -- and I appreciate it very, very much. (Applause.)
And clearly, there are times when the need for progress
demands that we put differences aside. Where Poland is concerned,
now is such a time.
Last July in Gdansk, standing with Lech Walesa at the
Worker's Monument, I pledged to the enormous crowd out there before
us that America stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the Polish people in
solidarity. And in Warsaw, we announced our initiative to assist
Solidarity and Polish workers in making that difficult transition
from a discredited centrally-planned economic system to one of free
markets and hope for a better future.
Our Labor Secretary Elizabeth Dole, who met today with
Prime Minister Thatcher and Britain's Labor Minister, also went to
Gdansk in August to discuss the ways that our government, working
together with organized labor in the United States, can help. In
just two weeks, Secretary Dole and Lane Kirkland and some other
leaders will join forces on a presidential mission to Poland -- our
government, together with the AFL-CIO, in solidarity with Polish
workers. (Applause.)
Today I appeal to and call -- appeal to the unions and
call on the American labor movement, the business community, and
government to look for ways to support a partnership for progress in
Poland -- for the sake of a nation and a people that need and deserve
our help. Labor, business and government can and should be partners
and activists for Poland's future.
Last night, Lech Walesa came to dinner at the White
House. Barbara and I wanted to try to reciprocate for the very
special warm hospitality that he and his wife, Danuta, gave to us in
his own home there at Gdansk. There was only four of us there last
night. We treated him like family. Barbara said the grace before
the meal and Lech joined in. It was a very special moment for me,
personally -- very special moment for the White House.
And we talked then about business. We talked about
investment -- the need to attract new capital to Poland -- much in
the spirit of Lech's words to this very convention. And yesterday he
said, "such is the fate of a Polish trade unionist." He'd have to
launch a publicity campaign entrepreneurship. Well, he's one smart
trade unionist. Last night, labor's son and democracy's advocate was
talking about banks and investment because he knows that means
economic reform, and he knows that economic reform means jobs.
And business and government can learn from -- and lend
momentum -- to labor's unflinching demand for dignity on behalf of
every working man and woman -- not just in Poland, but around the
world. And let us join hands. Let us work together as never before
to fulfill that great promise of freedom.
You know, there is so much to learn from labor's history
of democratic struggle. During Hitler's rise to power -- Lane is old
MORE
- 3 -
enough to remember this and, regrettably, so am I -- during Hitler's
rise to power in the 1930's, American labor was among the very first
to recognize that great evil. You extended your hand in solidarity
to those fighting in the early underground movement.
And then when the Nazi regime was finally destroyed,
American labor went to work building democratic institutions and
these independent trade unions.
And later, when postwar Western Europe was threatened by
the spread of international communism, it was American labor that
stood firm. Tough, behind-the-scenes operators like Irving Brown --
(applause) -- your AFL's European representative -- saw to it that
the Alliance was preserved and democracy prevailed in Western Europe.
When Irving Brown died last winter, after four decades of
fighting for workers' rights, he was widely recognized as an
architect of Western democracy -- symbolizing American labor's
commitment to freedom around the world.
Today the tradition continues -- nowhere more powerfully
than in Poland. The AFL-CIO was at the forefront, standing with
Solidarity in its darkest hour, firm in the belief that the dawn
would come. Because of that support, courageous leaders like Lech
Walesa are now transforming Poland before the eyes of an admiring
world.
Stories of that transformation continue to unfold. Early
in this century, in the Polish town of Lodz, David Dubinsky -- later
to become the renowned head of the ILG -- was arrested for
organizing. In 1908, that would-be organizer was sent from Lodz to
Siberia by the Czar. Last week, a Solidarity candidate was elected
mayor of Lodz. (Applause.) I Poland -- look at how things have
moved.
In Poland, Solidarity unlocked freedom's door. Today,
holding Poland in their hearts as an example and inspiration, workers
around the world are risking everything for democracy. The door
cannot be locked again.
Miners are striking peacefully in the Soviet Union for
the first time since the early 1920's, one of them even calling their
independent union -- and this is high praise for our special guest
today, Lech Walesa -- one of them even calling that union
"Solidarity."
They and those like them offer hope for peaceful change,
which the AFL-CIO is supporting actively through direct contact and
assistance on workers' rights, union organization, collective
bargaining. These are the tools your brothers and sisters abroad
need most to hammer out justice on the anvil of freedom.
With new legislation in the Supreme Soviet recognizing
the right to strike in all but a handful of essential industries, the
people of the Soviet Union now have an opportunity to voice their
grievances. This will be a challenge to President Gorbachev as he
works through Perestroika to raise productivity and living standards
at the same time.
Across Eastern Europe, we see vindication of the
AFL-CIO's refusal to deal with puppet unions controlled by either
employers or governments. Hungarian workers are turning to the
Democratic League of Free Unions. Bulgarian workers are laying the
foundations of a free trade union, to be called "Support." East
German workers have created their first independent trade union, free
of communist influence, to be called "Reform."
The idea that motivated Lech Walesa and the members of
Solidarnosc as they sat down to negotiate with the Polish government
is a powerful one -- that men must be free in order to prosper. That
idea spread to Hungary, where the physical dismantling of the Iron
Curtain began. Uplifted by the hope that Europe will one day be
MORE
- 4 -
whole and free, last week we watched in awe as Berliners danced atop
the Berlin Wall. And we watched as a deep wound, a wound that has
scarred the heart of Europe for 28 years, began to heal. And we saw
it in the joyful faces of families reunited, in the smiles and
laughter and tears of people greeting freedom like a long-lost
friend, and in the wonder of children getting their first taste of
freedom.
Last summer I remember predicting that the Wall would
come down. I expected it during my lifetime; I hoped for it during
these next three years. But, you know, quite apart from predictions,
change has a way of sweeping through like a fast-moving train. And
no one and no government should stand in its way.
Just yesterday, we welcomed the news of freedom -- more
freedom -- freedom of travel in this case for the citizens of
Czechoslovakia as a positive step forward. But in that country,
where the tradition of democracy runs deep, and in others, freedom of
travel is not enough. Only free and unfettered elections can satisfy
the yearnings of a free people.
It is against this backdrop of change that I will meet
with President Gorbachev near Malta next month. We are not meeting
-- and, Lech, take this message back with you -- we are not meeting
to negotiate the future of Europe. The peoples of Eastern Europe are
speaking their own minds about that future and they are calling for
democracy, freedom of the press and of conscience, the right of the
governed to choose their leaders.
At Malta, I will work to advance that process of reform
and democracy. And I also want to know what President Gorbachev
thinks of the challenges that he faces at home and of the new course
that he has set out for Soviet policy in Eastern Europe. I plan to
discuss with him the importance of free trade unions in building a
free country. (Applause.)
The AFL-CIO has fought for that freedom around the world.
And I'm going to carry that message to Mr. Gorbachev. I also want to
talk with President Gorbachev about the opportunities to move beyond
containment in -Soviet relations. To find areas of mutual
advantage in our relationship.
Everywhere you look in the world, members of the AFL-CIO
are fighting to keep the door for freedom open for all. Working
against such evils as apartheid; struggling for peaceful democratic
change toward a system of one man, one vote; supporting free trade
union movements in Paraguay, Guatemala and El Salvador, Nicaragua.
And helping workers in Chile's plebiscite last year
fighting for free elections now scheduled for next month. Manuel
Bustos, president of the United Labor Confederation there, was until
recently exiled in his own country. But thanks to you, thanks to the
AFL-CIA -- (laughter) -- he is now free. Free enough to attend the
great convention. (Applause.) That was a Freudian slip.
(Laughter.)
Your work is often accomplished -- did you explain it to
him? (Laughter.) Your work is often accomplished at great
sacrifice. Independent trade unions are often caught in a vise
between death squads on the right and guerrillas on the left. In El
Salvador, two of your own -- Mike Hammer and Mark Pearlman -- died at
the hands of a right-wing death squad. And in Nicaragua, the
Confederation of Trade Union Equity has been harassed and brutalized
by the Sandinista regime's left-wing thugs.
It takes uncommon courage for workers to fight the
scourge of tyranny. Because dictators know that free unions mean
pluralism. And pluralism denies complete control. So the tyrant's
first targets for suppression, arrest, or murder are often
independent unions and their members.
In all, over 200 free trade unionists were murdered last
MORE
- 5 -
year around the world. We grieve deeply for these sacrifices. Let
there be no mistake: We condemn any efforts, by any government, to
try to intimidate democratic unions or their members.
In Thailand, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philipines, the
AFL-CIO's support of worker education, libraries, and conferences on
human rights all add to the inevitable momentum toward worker
representation and collective bargaining.
Workers in Southeast Asia by the millions -- especially
children and young women -- are being used and abused and abandoned.
Looking for a solution, we've enforced worker rights as part of the
Generalized System of Preferences -- and in our trade policy review
mechanism under the GATT, we've incorporated workers rights.
In the long run, the surest solution to the struggle for
workers rights is to support the growth of democratic institutions
like free labor unions -- and to encourage economic development that
will render child labor and nightmarish working conditions not merely
illegal, but unthinkable. (Applause.)
Just as a house is built from the ground up, labor's
house rests on a bedrock principle of free association -- and rises
by the strength of its members. Free trade union movements today
stand on the threshold of change as a leading force for democracy.
Labor's strengh has opened the door to freedom for millions. The
door must remain open.
You know, last week the Soviet Union celebrated the
anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution. In a protest march, a
banner was carried that said, "Workers of the world, we apologize."
It was the first time in memory that Soviet authorities allowed such
demonstrations on that holiday. That banner is another sign that
democracy is doing the unthinkable, by saying the unspeakable.
The 1984 of George Orwell has come and gone. And I am
hopeful that 1989 will be remembered as the year when American labor,
business and, yes, government first began to work together in a real
partnership for the freedom and dignity of workers everywhere. Not
out of some utopian vision, but because we simply believe in the same
basic values.
The key to freedom rests in our hands. With that key,
nothing is impossible. The door to democracy will remain unlocked,
to each according to his ability to dream.
Thank you all very, very much. God bless you. And may
God bless working people everywhere. And, Lech Walesa, God bless
you, sir. Thank you very, very much. (Applause.)
END
4:00 P.M. EST
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
NOVEMBER 15, 1989
1989 NOV 13 PM 8. 05
INFORMATION
MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT
THROUGH:
CHRISS WINSTON cw
FROM:
MARK LANGE M.A.
SUBJECT:
AFL-CIO CONVENTION
Attached is a draft for your speech to the AFL-CIO Biennial
Convention on Wednesday, November 15, at 3:30 p.m,, at the
Washington Sheraton. Between 1800 and 2000 will attend. The
speech will be telepromted.
In the address, you call for a new partnership between business,
labor and government to assist Poland -- and cite the vital
contributions of independent trade union movements to freedom and
democracy around the world.
1. need some favorableoreferen
to elizabeth dole. where she is 'this very m, oment'
Last Night Lech Walesa came to dinner. barabar and I wanted to reciprocate for
the wearm hospitslity he and his Danuta gave to us in his own home at Gdansk.
The talk last night was a botu investemnt- the need to attratc banks and capital
to Poland
Here was Labor's son talking about banks andi nmvestment because
he knows that means economic reform and he know that economic reform
means job.
How about a mnetion of Malta and perhaps AT Malta I plan to discuss
with Pres gorb the role of the free trade union in building a free country"
reiteration of my belief that labor disputes best solved without
gorvernment intervention
if we do this wording must be careful
given EAL, Bopeing etc.
Product
(Lange/Dooley)
November 13, 1989
5:20 p.m.
[AFLCIO.DOC]
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS:
AFL-CIO CONVENTION
WASHINGTON SHERATON
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1989
3:30 P.M.
Lane Kirkland. Tom Donahue. Lech Walesa. Members of the
Executive Council. And assembled delegates.
This is a great moment for the AFL-CIO. After eight long
years of struggle, Lech Walesa is here to accept the George Meany
Human Rights Award, first intended for Solidarnosc. Back in
1981, you remember, Lech wasn't allowed to be here, to claim that
prize. And the waiting began.
(( You know, I can really identify with Lech. I understand
what it's like, to wait so long to get here
But I don't regret a minute of it. Because after all those
years, it's great to be with you -- and to see the members who
endorsed me, sitting back there in the last row
So lately I've been feeling pretty confident. Barbara had a
hunch I'd be addressing this group today. This morning she
caught me in the shower singing the "Union Yes" theme song
))
Let me begin by congratulating the leadership. Because of
Lane Kirkland -- now serving his tenth year, continuing the work
begun by George Meany before him -- your unions truly are
returning to a single house: the Auto Workers, the Mine Workers,
the Teamsters, the Locomotive Engineers, the Longshoremen's and
Warehousemen's Union, the Writer's Guild East, the United
Transportation Union -- all have affirmed their ties to this
2
great organization. Lane Kirkland has done -- as he continues to
do -- outstanding work on behalf of organized labor. [PAUSE]
Lane's work to consolidate and renew Labor's strength gives
the AFL-CIO the power to play its best role: protecting the
rights of working Americans at home, and striving for those
rights abroad through the support of democracy around the world.
Labor has been an enduring force for freedom -- at times a
cry in the wilderness, at times the conductor of a thundering
chorus -- rejecting all forms of totalitarianism, fascist and
communist alike. With each passing year, through the labor
movement, freedom is finding its voice.
You understand that democracy rests not on cold marble and
pieces of paper, but on institutions freely formed -- and fully
free. Look down the main street of any small town, and you see
them: Churches. Libraries. Schools. Union halls. Free
associations that are the beating heart of American liberty.
Such liberty calls for a democracy created less by
governments than by people -- through the give and take of
competing interests, individual and collective. A democracy that
rejects management-by-decree from any centralized, all-knowing
government. A democracy where people speak for themselves,
rather than a government which speaks for them.
You and I may have differences. But those differences are
signs of democratic life. A way of life that demands respect for
differences -- and respects an honest opinion, as much as it
respects an honest day's work.
3
Still, there are times when the need for progress demands
that we put differences aside. Where Poland is concerned, now is
such a time.
Last July in Gdansk, standing with Lech Walesa at the
Worker's Monument, I pledged to the enormous crowd before us that
"America stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the Polish people in
solidarity. " - In Warsaw, we announced our initiative to assist
Solidarity and Polish workers in making the difficult transition
from a discredited centrally-planned economic system, to one of
free markets -- and hope for a better future.
Labor Secretary Dole also visited Gdansk in August to
discuss the ways that our government, working together with
organized labor in the United States, can help. In just two
weeks, Secretary Dole, Lane Kirkland and others will join forces
on a Presidential Mission to Poland: our government, together
with the AFL-CIO, in solidarity with Polish workers.
Today, I call on the American labor movement, the business
community, and government, to look for ways to support a
partnership for progress in Poland -- for the sake of a nation,
A
and a people, that need and deserve our help. Labor, business,
and government can and should be partners and activists for
Poland's future.
Let business and government learn from -- and lend momentum
to -- labor's unflinching demand for dignity on behalf of every
working man and woman: not just in Poland, but around the world.
Let us join hands. Let us work together as never before -- to
4
fulfill the great promise of freedom. //
There is so much to learn from labor's history of democratic
struggle. During Hitler's rise to power in the 1930s, American
labor was among the first to recognize that great evil. You
extended your hand in solidarity to those fighting in the early
underground movement.
When the Nazi regime was finally destroyed, American labor
went to work rebuilding democratic institutions and independent
trade unions.
Later, when postwar Western Europe was threatened by the
spread of international communism, American labor stood firm.
Tough, behind-the-scenes operators -- like Irving Brown, the
AFL's European representative -- saw to it that the alliance was
preserved and democracy prevailed in Western Europe.
When Irving Brown died last winter, after four decades of
fighting for workers' rights, he was widely recognized as an
architect of Western democracy -- symbolizing American labor's
commitment to freedom around the world.
Today the tradition continues -- nowhere more powerfully
than in Poland. The AFL-CIO was at the forefront, standing with
Solidarity in its darkest hour -- firm in the belief that the
dawn would come. Because of that support, courageous leaders
like Lech Walesa are now transforming Poland before the eyes of
an admiring world.
Stories of that transformation continue to unfold. Early in
this century, in the Polish town of Lodz [WOODZH], David Dubinsky
5
-- later to become the renowned head of the Garment Workers --
was arrested for organizing. In 1908, that would-be organizer
was sent from Lodz [WOODZH] to Siberia, by the Czar. Last week,
a Solidarity union candidate was elected mayor of Lodz.
In Poland, Solidarity unlocked freedom's door. Today,
holding Poland in their hearts as an example and inspiration,
workers around the world are risking everything for democracy.
The door cannot be locked again.
Miners are striking peacefully in the Soviet Union for the
first time since the early 1920s, calling their independent union
-- and this is high praise for Lech Walesa -- "Solidarity."
They and those like them offer hope for peaceful change,
which the AFL-CIO is supporting actively -- through direct
contact, and assistance on workers' rights, union organization,
and collective bargaining. These are the tools your brothers and
sisters abroad need most, to hammer out justice on the anvil of
freedom.
With new legislation in the Supreme Soviet recognizing the
right to strike in all but a handful of essential industries, the
people of the Soviet Union now have an opportunity to voice their
grievances. This will be a challenge to President Gorbachev, as
he works, through perestroika, to raise productivity and living
standards at the same time.
Across Eastern Europe, recent events vindicate the AFL-
CIO's refusal to deal with puppet unions controlled by either
employers or governments. Hungarian workers are turning to the
6
Democratic League of Free Unions. Bulgarian workers are laying
the foundations of a free trade union, to be called "Support."
East German workers have created their first independent trade
union, free of communist influence, to be called "Reform."
In East Germany, a deep wound that has scarred the heart of
Europe for 28 years is now healing. You see it in the joyful
faces of families reunited. In the smiles, laughter, and tears
of people greeting freedom like a long-lost friend. In the
wonder of children tasting freedom for the first time.
Everywhere you look in the world, members of the AFL-CIO are
fighting to keep the door to freedom open for all. Working
against such evils as apartheid. Struggling for peaceful
democratic change toward a system of one man, one vote.
Supporting free trade union movements in Paraguay. Guatemala.
El Salvador. Nicaragua.
chich
fisht
fortree
And helping workers defeat Pinochet in the plèbiscite, for
democracy in Chile. Manuel Bustos, president of the United Labor
Confederation there, was until recently exiled in his own
country. Thanks to the AFL-CIO, he is now free. Free enough ito
be with us today.
Your work is often accomplished at great sacrifice.
Independent trade unions are often caught in a vise between death
squads on the right and guerrillas on the left. In El Salvador,
two of your own -- Mike Hammer and Mark Pearlman -- died at the
hands of a right-wing death squad. And in Nicaragua, the
Confederation of Trade Union Unity has been harrassed and
7
brutalized by the Sandinista regime's left-wing thugs.
It takes uncommon courage for workers to fight the scourge
of tyranny. Because dictators know that free unions mean
pluralism. And pluralism denies complete control. So the
tyrant's first targets for suppression, arrest, or murder are
often independent unions and their members.
In all, some 200 free trade unionists were murdered last
year around the world. We grieve deeply for these sacrifices.
Let there be no mistake: We condemn any efforts, by any
government, to try to intimidate democratic unions or their
members.
In Thailand, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines: the
AFL-CIO's support of worker education, libraries, and conferences
on human rights all add to the inevitable momentum toward worker
representation and collective bargaining.
Workers in Southeast Asia by the millions -- especially
children and young women -- are being used, abused, and
abandoned. Looking for a solution, we've enforced worker rights
as part of the Generalized System of Preferences -- and in our
trade policy review mechanism under the GATT, we've incorporated
worker rights.
In the long run, the surest solution to the struggle for
worker rights is to support the growth of democratic institutions
like free labor unions -- and to encourage economic development
that will render child labor and nightmarish working conditions
not merely illegal, but unthinkable.
8
Just as a house is built from the ground up, labor's house
rests on a bedrock principle of free association -- and rises by
the strength of its members. Free trade union movements today
stand on the threshold of change -- as a leading force for
democracy. Labor's strength has opened the door to freedom for
millions. The door must remain open.
Last week the Soviet Union celebrated the anniversary of the
Bolshevik Revolution. In a protest march, a banner was carried
that said, "Workers of the world, we apologize." It was the
first time in memory that Soviet authorities allowed such
demonstrations on that holiday. That banner is another sign that
democracy is doing the unthinkable, by saying the unspeakable.
The Nineteen Eighty-four of George Orwell has come and gone.
I am hopeful that 1989 will be remembered as the year when
American labor, business, and government first began to work
together, in a real partnership, for the freedom and dignity of
workers everywhere. Not out of some utopian vision -- but
because we simply believe in the same basic values.
The key to freedom rests in our hands. With that key,
nothing is impossible. The door to democracy will remain
unlocked: To each according to his ability to
dream.
Thank you. God bless you. And may God bless working people
everywhere.
###
089012SS
Document No.
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
11/13/89
DATE:
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY:
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: AFL-CIO CONVENTION
WASHINGTON SHERATON
SUBJECT:
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1989
3:30 PM
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
BATES
UNTERMEYER
ROGERS
CARD
CICCONI
WINSTON
DEMAREST
PINKERTON
FITZWATER
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
The attached has been forwarded to the President.
RESPONSE:
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
NOVEMBER 15, 1989
1989 NOV 13 PM 8: 05
INFORMATION
MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT
THROUGH:
CHRISS WINSTON cw
FROM:
MARK LANGE M.A
SUBJECT:
AFL-CIO CONVENTION
Attached is a draft for your speech to the AFL-CIO Biennial
Convention on Wednesday, November 15, at 3:30 p.m., at the
Washington Sheraton. Between 1800 and 2000 will attend. The
speech will be telepromted.
In the address, you call for a new partnership between business,
labor and government to assist Poland -- and cite the vital
contributions of independent trade union movements to freedom and
democracy around the world.
(Lange/Dooley)
November 13, 1989
5:20 p.m.
[AFLCIO.DOC]
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS:
AFL-CIO CONVENTION
WASHINGTON SHERATON
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1989
3:30 P.M.
Lane Kirkland. Tom Donahue. Lech Walesa. Members of the
Executive Council. And assembled delegates.
This is a great moment for the AFL-CIO. After eight long
years of struggle, Lech Walesa is here to accept the George Meany
Human Rights Award, first intended for Solidarnosc. Back in
1981, you remember, Lech wasn't allowed to be here, to claim that
prize. And the waiting began.
(( You know, I can really identify with Lech. I understand
what it's like, to wait so long to get here
But I don't regret a minute of it. Because after all those
years, it's great to be with you -- and to see the members who
endorsed me, sitting back there in the last row
So lately I've been feeling pretty confident. Barbara had a
hunch I'd be addressing this group today. This morning she
caught me in the shower singing the "Union Yes" theme song
))
Let me begin by congratulating the leadership. Because of
Lane Kirkland -- now serving his tenth year, continuing the work
begun by George Meany before him -- your unions truly are
returning to a single house: the Auto Workers, the Mine Workers,
the Teamsters, the Locomotive Engineers, the Longshoremen's and
Warehousemen's Union, the Writer's Guild East, the United
Transportation Union -- all have affirmed their ties to this
2
great organization. Lane Kirkland has done -- as he continues to
do -- outstanding work on behalf of organized labor. [PAUSE]
Lane's work to consolidate and renew Labor's strength gives
the AFL-CIO the power to play its best role: protecting the
rights of working Americans at home, and striving for those
rights abroad through the support of democracy around the world.
Labor has been an enduring force for freedom -- at times a
cry in the wilderness, at times the conductor of a thundering
chorus -- rejecting all forms of totalitarianism, fascist and
communist alike. With each passing year, through the labor
movement, freedom is finding its voice.
You understand that democracy rests not on cold marble and
pieces of paper, but on institutions freely formed -- and fully
free. Look down the main street of any small town, and you see
them: Churches. Libraries. Schools. Union halls. Free
associations that are the beating heart of American liberty.
Such liberty calls for a democracy created less by
governments than by people -- through the give and take of
competing interests, individual and collective. A democracy that
rejects management-by-decree from any centralized, all-knowing
government. A democracy where people speak for themselves,
rather than a government which speaks for them.
You and I may have differences. But those differences are
signs of democratic life. A way of life that demands respect for
differences -- and respects an honest opinion, as much as it
respects an honest day's work.
3
Still, there are times when the need for progress demands
that we put differences aside. Where Poland is concerned, now is
such a time.
Last July in Gdansk, standing with Lech Walesa at the
Worker's Monument, I pledged to the enormous crowd before us that
"America stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the Polish people in
solidarity." In Warsaw, we announced our initiative to assist
Solidarity and Polish workers in making the difficult transition
from a discredited centrally-planned economic system, to one of
free markets -- and hope for a better future.
Labor Secretary Dole also visited Gdansk in August to
discuss the ways that our government, working together with
organized labor in the United States, can help. In just two
weeks, Secretary Dole, Lane Kirkland and others will join forces
on a Presidential Mission to Poland: our government, together
with the AFL-CIO, in solidarity with Polish workers.
Today, I call on the American labor movement, the business
community, and government, to look for ways to support a
partnership for progress in Poland -- for the sake of a nation,
and a people, that need and deserve our help. Labor, business,
and government can and should be partners and activists for
Poland's future.
Let business and government learn from -- and lend momentum
to -- labor's unflinching demand for dignity on behalf of every
working man and woman: not just in Poland, but around the world.
Let us join hands. Let us work together as never before -- to
4
fulfill the great promise of freedom.
//
There is so much to learn from labor's history of democratic
struggle. During Hitler's rise to power in the 1930s, American
labor was among the first to recognize that great evil. You
extended your hand in solidarity to those fighting in the early
underground movement.
When the Nazi regime was finally destroyed, American labor
went to work rebuilding democratic institutions and independent
trade unions.
Later, when postwar Western Europe was threatened by the
spread of international communism, American labor stood firm.
Tough, behind-the-scenes operators -- like Irving Brown, the
AFL's European representative -- saw to it that the alliance was
preserved and democracy prevailed in Western Europe.
When Irving Brown died last winter, after four decades of
fighting for workers' rights, he was widely recognized as an
architect of Western democracy -- symbolizing American labor's
commitment to freedom around the world.
Today the tradition continues -- nowhere more powerfully
than in Poland. The AFL-CIO was at the forefront, standing with
Solidarity in its darkest hour -- firm in the belief that the
dawn would come. Because of that support, courageous leaders
like Lech Walesa are now transforming Poland before the eyes of
an admiring world.
Stories of that transformation continue to unfold. Early in
this century, in the Polish town of Lodz [WOODZH], David Dubinsky
5
-- later to become the renowned head of the Garment Workers --
was arrested for organizing. In 1908, that would-be organizer
was sent from Lodz [WOODZH] to Siberia, by the Czar. Last week,
a Solidarity union candidate was elected mayor of Lodz.
In Poland, Solidarity unlocked freedom's door. Today,
holding Poland in their hearts as an example and inspiration,
workers around the world are risking everything for democracy.
The door cannot be locked again.
Miners are striking peacefully in the Soviet Union for the
first time since the early 1920s, calling their independent union
-- and this is high praise for Lech Walesa -- "Solidarity."
They and those like them offer hope for peaceful change,
which the AFL-CIO is supporting actively -- through direct
contact, and assistance on workers' rights, union organization,
and collective bargaining. These are the tools your brothers and
sisters abroad need most, to hammer out justice on the anvil of
freedom.
With new legislation in the Supreme Soviet recognizing the
right to strike in all but a handful of essential industries, the
people of the Soviet Union now have an opportunity to voice their
grievances. This will be a challenge to President Gorbachev, as
he works, through perestroika, to raise productivity and living
standards at the same time.
Across Eastern Europe, recent events vindicate the AFL-
CIO's refusal to deal with puppet unions controlled by either
employers or governments. Hungarian workers are turning to the
6
Democratic League of Free Unions. Bulgarian workers are laying
the foundations of a free trade union, to be called "Support."
East German workers have created their first independent trade
union, free of communist influence, to be called "Reform."
In East Germany, a deep wound that has scarred the heart of
Europe for 28 years is now healing. You see it in the joyful
faces of families reunited. In the smiles, laughter, and tears
of people greeting freedom like a long-lost friend. In the
wonder of children tasting freedom for the first time.
Everywhere you look in the world, members of the AFL-CIO are
fighting to keep the door to freedom open for all. Working
against such evils as apartheid. Struggling for peaceful
democratic change toward a system of one man, one vote.
Supporting free trade union movements in Paraguay. Guatemala.
El Salvador. Nicaragua.
And helping workers defeat Pinochet in the plebiscite, for
democracy in Chile. Manuel Bustos, president of the United Labor
Confederation there, was until recently exiled in his own
country. Thanks to the AFL-CIO, he is now free. Free enough to
be with us today.
Your work is often accomplished at great sacrifice.
Independent trade unions are often caught in a vise between death
squads on the right and guerrillas on the left. In El Salvador,
two of your own -- Mike Hammer and Mark Pearlman -- died at the
hands of a right-wing death squad. And in Nicaragua, the
Confederation of Trade Union Unity has been harrassed and
7
brutalized by the Sandinista regime's left-wing thugs.
It takes uncommon courage for workers to fight the scourge
of tyranny. Because dictators know that free unions mean
pluralism. And pluralism denies complete control. So the
tyrant's first targets for suppression, arrest, or murder are
often independent unions and their members.
In all, some 200 free trade unionists were murdered last
year around the world. We grieve deeply for these sacrifices.
Let there be no mistake: We condemn any efforts, by any
government, to try to intimidate democratic unions or their
members.
In Thailand, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines: the
AFL-CIO's support of worker education, libraries, and conferences
on human rights all add to the inevitable momentum toward worker
representation and collective bargaining.
Workers in Southeast Asia by the millions -- especially
children and young women -- are being used, abused, and
abandoned. Looking for a solution, we've enforced worker rights
as part of the Generalized System of Preferences -- and in our
trade policy review mechanism under the GATT, we've incorporated
worker rights.
In the long run, the surest solution to the struggle for
worker rights is to support the growth of democratic institutions
like free labor unions -- and to encourage economic development
that will render child labor and nightmarish working conditions
not merely illegal, but unthinkable.
8
Just as a house is built from the ground up, labor's house
rests on a bedrock principle of free association -- and rises by
the strength of its members. Free trade union movements today
stand on the threshold of change -- as a leading force for
democracy. Labor's strength has opened the door to freedom for
millions. The door must remain open.
Last week the Soviet Union celebrated the anniversary of the
Bolshevik Revolution. In a protest march, a banner was carried
that said, "Workers of the world, we apologize." It was the
first time in memory that Soviet authorities allowed such
demonstrations on that holiday. That banner is another sign that
democracy is doing the unthinkable, by saying the unspeakable.
The Nineteen Eighty-four of George Orwell has come and gone.
I am hopeful that 1989 will be remembered as the year when
American labor, business, and government first began to work
together, in a real partnership, for the freedom and dignity of
workers everywhere. Not out of some utopian vision -- but
because we simply believe in the same basic values.
The key to freedom rests in our hands. With that key,
nothing is impossible. The door to democracy will remain
unlocked: To each according to his ability... to dream.
Thank you. God bless you. And may God bless working people
everywhere.
###
Document No. 089012SS
9041
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
DATE:
11/9/89
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: 11/10/89 NOON
SUBJECT: PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: AFL-CIO CONVENTION
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
BATES
UNTERMEYER
CARD
ROGERS
CICCONI
WINSTON
DEMAREST
PINKERTON
FITZWATER
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Rm. 122,
x2930, no later than NOON, Friday, November 10, with a copy to
my office. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
To: Chriss Winston:
The NSC concurs with changes, as noted.
Brent B Scowcroft
CC: Cicconi
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
28 :8 A 6 AON 68
(Lange/Dooley)
1989 NOV -8 PM 9: 19
November 8, 1989
9:15 p.m.
[AFLCIO.DOC]
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS:
AFL-CIO CONVENTION
WASHINGTON SHERATON
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1989
[TIME]
Lane Kirkland. Tom Donahue. Lech Walesa. Members of the
Executive Council. And assembled delegates.
This is a great moment for the AFL-CIO. After eight long
years of struggle, Lech Walesa is here to accept the George Meany
Human Rights Award, first intended for Solidarnosc. Back in
1981, you remember, Lech wasn't allowed to be here, to claim that
prize. And the waiting began.
(( You know, I can really identify with Lech. I understand
what it's like, to wait so long to get here
But I don't regret a minute of it. Because after all those
years, it's great to be with you -- and to see the members who
endorsed me, sitting back there in the last row
So lately I've been feeling pretty confident. Barbara had a
hunch I'd be addressing this group today. This morning she
caught me in the shower singing the "Union Yes" theme song
))
Let me begin by congratulating the leadership. Because of
Lane Kirkland -- now serving his tenth year, continuing the work
begun by George Meany before him -- your unions are spreading
like branches on a strong and growing tree: the Auto Workers,
the Mine Workers, the Teamsters, the Locomotive Engineers. Lane
Kirkland has done -- as he continues to do -- outstanding work on
behalf of organized labor. [PAUSE]
2
Lane's work to consolidate and renew Labor's strength gives
the AFL-CIO the power to play its best role: protecting the
rights of working Americans at home, and striving for those
rights abroad through the support of democracy around the world.
Labor has been an enduring force for freedom -- at times a
cry in the wilderness, at times the conductor of a thundering
chorus -- rejecting all forms of totalitarianism, fascist and
communist alike. With each passing year, through labor, freedom
is finding its voice.
You understand that democracy rests not on cold marble and
pieces of paper, but on institutions freely formed -- and fully
free. Look down the main street of any small town, and you see
them: Churches. Libraries. Schools. Union halls. Free
associations that are the beating heart of American liberty.
Such liberty calls for a democracy created less by
governments than by people -- through the give and take of
competing interests, individual and collective. A democracy that
rejects management-by-decree from any centralized, all-knowing
government. A democracy where people speak for themselves,
rather than allow their government to speak for them.
And above all, a democracy that allows for -- even
encourages disagreement. Earlier this month, a cabdriver in
Budapest said, "Can you eat politics? No. Can your children
sends
wear politics? No. Can you pay your rent with politics? No.
Politics doesn! mean anything to working people. Politicians
messay
are just a bunch of gangsters. "
3
I may not agree with his reasoning - but I defend his right
to reason as he chooses And I take his comment as a very
positive sign. The fact that the cab driver could say it -- and
that a reporter could quote it is a symptom of positive
political change. A sign that democracy is doing its work in
Eastern Europe Which, for all of its challenges, is good for
people Even if it's occasionally hard on politicians
Here, you and I may have differences. But those differences
are signs of democratic life. A way of life that demands respect
for differences -- and respects an honest opinion, as much as it
respects an honest day's work.
Still, there are times when the need for progress demands
that we put differences aside. Where Poland is concerned, now is
INSERT
such a time.
I +ve invited Lane Kirkland, [Bob Georgine], members of my
cabinet, and leaders from the business community to join together
in a mission to Poland later this month and I've been
encouraged by their responses. They'll be working together,
looking for new ways to assist reform, drawing on America S
experience with free markets and free trade unions.
Today, I call on the American labor movement, the business
community, and government, to look for ways to support a
partnership for progress in Poland -- for the sake of a nation,
and a people, that need and deserve our help. Labor, business,
and government can and should be partners and activists for
Poland's future.
4
Let business and government learn from -- and lend momentum
to -- labor's unflinching demand for dignity on behalf of every
working man and woman: not just in Poland, but around the world.
Let us join hands. Let us work together as never before -- to
fulfill the great promise of freedom. //
There is so much to learn from labor's history of democratic
struggle. During Hitler's rise to power in the 1930s, American
labor was among the first to recognize that great evil. You
extended the hand of solidarity to those fighting in the early
underground movement.
When the Nazi regime was finally destroyed, American labor
went to work rebuilding democratic institutions and independent
trade unions.
Later, when postwar Western Europe was threatened by the
spread of international communism, American labor stood firm.
Tough, behind-the-scenes operators -- like Irving Brown, the
AFL's European representative -- saw to it that the alliance was
preserved and democracy prevailed in Western Europe.
When Irving Brown died last winter, after four decades of
fighting for workers' rights, he was widely recognized as an
architect of Western democracy -- symbolizing American labor's
commitment to freedom around the world.
Today the tradition continues -- nowhere more powerfully
was at the Eorefiont, standing
than in Poland. The AFL-CIO, more than any other organization,
stood with solidarity in its darkest hour -- firm in the belief
that the dawn would come. Because of that support, courageous
[WOODZH]
5
leaders like Lech Walesa are now transforming Poland before the
eyes of an admiring world.
Stories of that transformation continue to unfold. Early in
this century, in the town of Lodz, David Dubinsky -- later to
become the renowned head of the American Garment Workers -- was
arrested for organizing. In 1908, that would-be organizer was
sent from Lodz to Siberian prison camps, by the Czar. Last week,
a Solidarity union candidate was elected mayor of Lodz.
In Poland, Solidarity unlocked freedom's door. Today,
holding Poland in their hearts as an example and inspiration,
workers around the world are risking everything for democracy.
The door cannot be locked again.
Miners are striking peacefully in the Soviet Union for the
first time since the early 1920s, calling their independent union
-- and this is high praise for Lech Walesa -- "Solidarity."
[with us today is a young man from Lithuania, Kazimeiras Woka
-- who is leading a fascinating double life as both Supreme
Soviet member, and worker activist -- trying to promote
democratic They reform of the them Soviet trade union system ]
which
He and those like him offer hope for peaceful change, that
the AFL-CIO is supporting actively -- through direct contact, and
assistance on workers' rights, labor-management relations, union
organization, and collective bargaining. These are the tools
your brothers and sisters abroad need most, to hammer out justice
on the anvil of freedom.
6
With new legislation in the Supreme Soviet recognizing the
right to strike, the people of the Soviet Union now have an
opportunity to voice their grievances. This will be a challenge
to President Gorbachev, as he works, through perestroika, to
raise productivity and living standards at the same time.
Across Eastern Europe, recent events vindicate the AFL-CIO's
refusal to deal with puppet unions controlled by either employers
or governments. Hungarian workers are turning to the Democratic
League of Independent Trade Unions.
Czechoslovaks
are
Rumanian workers are
East German workers have created
their first independent trade union, free of communist influence,
to be called "Reform."
Everywhere you look in the world, members of the AFL-CIO are
fighting to keep the door to freedom open for all. Working
against such evils as apartheid. Struggling for peaceful
democratic change toward a system of one man, one vote.
Supporting free trade movements in Paraguay. Guatemala. El
Salvador. Nicaragua.
And helping workers defeat Pinochet in the plebiscite, for
democracy in Chile. Manuel Bustos, president of the United Labor
7
Confederation there, was until recently exiled in his own
country. Thanks to the AFL-CIO, he is now free. Free enough to
be with us today.
Your work is often accomplished at great sacrifice.
Independent trade unions often get pressed in a vise between
death squads on the right and guerrillas on the left. In El
7
Salvador, two of your own -- Mike Hammer and Mark Pearlman --
died at the hands of a right-wing death squad. And in Nicaragua,
the Confederation of Trade Union Unity has been harrassed and
brutalized by the Sandinista regime's left-wing thugs.
It takes uncommon courage for workers to fight the scourge
of tyranny. Because dictators know that free unions mean
pluralism. And pluralism denies complete control. So the
tyrant's first targets for suppression, arrest, or murder are
often independent unions and their members.
In all, some 200 free trade unionists were murdered last
year around the world. We grieve deeply for these sacrifices.
Let there be no mistake: We condemn any efforts, by any
government, to try to intimidate democratic unions or their
members.
In Thailand, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines: the
AFL-CIO's support of worker education, libraries, and conferences
on human rights all add to the inevitable momentum toward worker
representation and collective bargaining.
Workers in Southeast Asia by the hundreds of millions --
especially children and young women -- are used, abused, and
abandoned. Looking for a solution, we've made worker rights part
of the Generalized System of Preferences -- and in our trade
policy review mechanism under the GATT, we've incorporated worker
rights.
In the long run, the surest solution to the struggle for
worker rights is to support the growth of democratic institutions
8
like free labor unions -- and to encourage economic development
that will render child labor and nightmarish working conditions
not merely illegal, but irrelevant.
Just as a house is built from the ground up, labor's house
rests on a bedrock principle of free association -- and rises by
the strength of its members. Free trade union movements today
stand on the threshold of change -- as a leading force for
democracy. Labor's strength has opened the door to freedom for
millions. No centralized government
are
--
no tyrant of left or
right, will ever lock it again.
Last week the Soviet Union celebrated the anniversary of the
Bolshevik Revolution. In a protest march, a banner was carried
that said, "Workers of the world, we apologize." It was the
first time in memory that Soviet authorities allowed such
demonstrations on that holiday. Like the Budapest cab driver's
comments about politicians, that banner is another sign that
democracy is doing the unthinkable, by saying the unspeakable.
We may not in our lifetimes bear witness to the birth of a
new world order. But whether or not anyone can eat politics
we are now able to watch totalitarianism eat its words.
The Nineteen Eighty-four of George Orwell has come and gone.
I am hopeful that 1989 will be remembered as the year when
American labor, business, and government first began to work
together, in a real partnership, for the freedom and dignity of
utopian
workers everywhere. Not out of some utopic vision -- but because
we simply believe in the same basic values.
9
The key to freedom rests in our hands. With that key,
nothing is impossible. The door to democracy will remain
unlocked: To each according to his ability... to dream.
Thank you. God bless you. And may God bless working people
everywhere.
# # #
8
for democracy. Freedom of press, and of conscience. The right
of the governed to choose their leaders.
At Malta, I will work to advance the process of reform and
democracy. I also want to know what President Gorbachev thinks
of the challenges that he faces at home -- and of the new course
that he has set out for Soviet policy in Eastern Europe. I plan
to discuss with him the importance of free trade unions in
building a free country. The AFL-CIO has fought for that freedom
around the world, and I will carry that message to Mr. Gorbachev.
I also want to talk with President Gorbachev about the
opportunities to move beyond containment in U.S.-Soviet relations
-- to find areas of mutual advantage in our relationship.
Everywhere you look in the world, members of the AFL-CIO are
fighting to keep the door to freedom open for all. Working
against such evils as apartheid. Struggling for peaceful
democratic change toward a system of one man, one vote.
Supporting free trade union movements in Paraguay. Guatemala.
El Salvador. Nicaragua.
And helping workers in Chile's plebiscite last year,
fighting for free elections, now scheduled for next month.
Manuel Bustos, president of the United Labor Confederation there,
was until recently exiled in his own country. Thanks to the AFL-
CIO, he is now free. Free enough to be with us today.
Your work is often accomplished at great sacrifice.
Independent trade unions are often caught in a vise between death
squads on the right and guerrillas on the left. In El Salvador,
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
NOVEMBER 15, 1989
INFORMATION
MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT
THROUGH:
CHRISS WINSTON cw
FROM:
MARK LANGE M.A
SUBJECT:
AFL-CIO CONVENTION
Attached is a draft for your speech to the AFL-CIO Biennial
Convention on Wednesday, November 15, at 3:30 p.m., at the
Washington Sheraton. Between 1800 and 2000 will attend. The
speech will be telepromted.
In the address, you call for a new partnership between business,
labor and government to assist Poland -- and cite the vital
contributions of independent trade union movements to freedom and
democracy around the world.
pg.12
(chat process"
(Lange/Dooley)
November 13, 1989
5:20 p.m.
[AFLCIO.DOC]
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS:
AFL-CIO CONVENTION
WASHINGTON SHERATON
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1989
3:30 P.M.
Lane Kirkland. Tom Donahue. Lech Walesa. Members of the
Executive Council. And assembled delegates.
This is a great moment for the AFL-CIO. After eight long
years of struggle, Lech Walesa is here to accept the George Meany
Human Rights Award, first intended for Solidarnosc. Back in
1981, you remember, Lech wasn't allowed to be here, to claim that
prize. And the waiting began.
(( You know, I can really identify with Lech. I understand
what it's like, to wait so long to get here
But I don't regret a minute of it. Because after all those
years, it's great to be with you -- and to see the members who
endorsed me, sitting back there in the last row
So lately I've been feeling pretty confident. Barbara had a
hunch I'd be addressing this group today. This morning she
caught me in the shower singing the "Union Yes" theme song
))
Let me begin by congratulating the leadership. Because of
Lane Kirkland -- now serving his tenth year, continuing the work
begun by George Meany before him -- your unions truly are
returning to a single house: the Auto Workers, the Mine Workers,
the Teamsters, the Locomotive Engineers, the Longshoremen's and
Warehousemen's Union, the Writer's Guild East, the United
Transportation Union -- all have affirmed their ties to this
2
great organization. Lane Kirkland has done -- as he continues to
do -- outstanding work on behalf of organized labor. [PAUSE]
Lane's work to consolidate and renew Labor's strength gives
the AFL-CIO the power to play its best role: protecting the
rights of working Americans at home, and striving for those
rights abroad through the support of democracy around the world.
Labor has been an enduring force for freedom -- at times a
cry in the wilderness, at times the conductor of a thundering
chorus -- rejecting all forms of totalitarianism, fascist and
communist alike. With each passing year, through the labor
movement, freedom is finding its voice.
You understand that democracy rests not on cold marble and
pieces of paper, but on institutions freely formed -- and fully
free. Look down the main street of any small town, and you see
them: Churches. Libraries. Schools. Union halls. Free
associations that are the beating heart of American liberty.
Such liberty calls for a democracy created less by
governments than by people -- through the give and take of
competing interests, individual and collective. A democracy that
rejects management-by-decree from any centralized, all-knowing
government. A democracy where people speak for themselves,
rather than a government which speaks for them.
You and I may have differences. But those differences are
signs of democratic life. A way of life that demands respect for
differences -- and respects an honest opinion, as much as it
respects an honest day's work.
3
Still, there are times when the need for progress demands
that we put differences aside. Where Poland is concerned, now is
such a time.
Last July in Gdansk, standing with Lech Walesa at the
Worker's Monument, I pledged to the enormous crowd before us that
"America stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the Polish people in
solidarity." In Warsaw, we announced our initiative to assist
Solidarity and Polish workers in making the difficult transition
from a discredited centrally-planned economic system, to one of
free markets -- and hope for a better future.
Labor Secretary Dole also visited Gdansk in August to
discuss the ways that our government, working together with
organized labor in the United States, can help. In just two
weeks, Secretary Dole, Lane Kirkland and others will join forces
on a Presidential Mission to Poland: our government, together
with the AFL-CIO, in solidarity with Polish workers.
Today, I call on the American labor movement, the business
community, and government, to look for ways to support a
partnership for progress in Poland -- for the sake of a nation,
and a people, that need and deserve our help. Labor, business,
and government can and should be partners and activists for
Poland's future.
Let business and government learn from -- and lend momentum
to -- labor's unflinching demand for dignity on behalf of every
working man and woman: not just in Poland, but around the world.
Let us join hands. Let us work together as never before -- to
4
fulfill the great promise of freedom.
//
There is so much to learn from labor's history of democratic
struggle. During Hitler's rise to power in the 1930s, American
labor was among the first to recognize that great evil. You
extended your hand in solidarity to those fighting in the early
underground movement.
When the Nazi regime was finally destroyed, American labor
went to work rebuilding democratic institutions and independent
trade unions.
Later, when postwar Western Europe was threatened by the
spread of international communism, American labor stood firm.
Tough, behind-the-scenes operators -- like Irving Brown, the
AFL's European representative -- saw to it that the alliance was
preserved and democracy prevailed in Western Europe.
When Irving Brown died last winter, after four decades of
fighting for workers' rights, he was widely recognized as an
architect of Western democracy -- symbolizing American labor's
commitment to freedom around the world.
Today the tradition continues -- nowhere more powerfully
than in Poland. The AFL-CIO was at the forefront, standing with
Solidarity in its darkest hour -- firm in the belief that the
dawn would come. Because of that support, courageous leaders
like Lech Walesa are now transforming Poland before the eyes of
an admiring world.
Stories of that transformation continue to unfold. Early in
this century, in the Polish town of Lodz [WOODZH], David Dubinsky
5
-- later to become the renowned head of the Garment Workers --
was arrested for organizing. In 1908, that would-be organizer
was sent from Lodz [WOODZH] to Siberia, by the Czar. Last week,
a Solidarity union candidate was elected mayor of Lodz.
In Poland, Solidarity unlocked freedom's door. Today,
holding Poland in their hearts as an example and inspiration,
workers around the world are risking everything for democracy.
The door cannot be locked again.
Miners are striking peacefully in the Soviet Union for the
first time since the early 1920s, calling their independent union
-- and this is high praise for Lech Walesa -- "Solidarity."
They and those like them offer hope for peaceful change,
which the AFL-CIO is supporting actively -- through direct
contact, and assistance on workers' rights, union organization,
and collective bargaining. These are the tools your brothers and
sisters abroad need most, to hammer out justice on the anvil of
freedom.
With new legislation in the Supreme Soviet recognizing the
right to strike in all but a handful of essential industries, the
people of the Soviet Union now have an opportunity to voice their
grievances. This will be a challenge to President Gorbachev, as
he works, through perestroika, to raise productivity and living
standards at the same time.
Across Eastern Europe, recent events vindicate the AFL-
CIO's refusal to deal with puppet unions controlled by either
employers or governments. Hungarian workers are turning to the
6
Democratic League of Free Unions. Bulgarian workers are laying
the foundations of a free trade union, to be called "Support."
East German workers have created their first independent trade
union, free of communist influence, to be called "Reform."
In East Germany, a deep wound that has scarred the heart of
Europe for 28 years is now healing. You see it in the joyful
faces of families reunited. In the smiles, laughter, and tears
of people greeting freedom like a long-lost friend. In the
wonder of children tasting freedom for the first time.
Everywhere you look in the world, members of the AFL-CIO are
fighting to keep the door to freedom open for all. Working
against such evils as apartheid. Struggling for peaceful
democratic change toward a system of one man, one vote.
Supporting free trade union movements in Paraguay. Guatemala.
El Salvador. Nicaragua.
And helping workers defeat Pinochet in the plebiscite, for
democracy in Chile. Manuel Bustos, president of the United Labor
Confederation there, was until recently exiled in his own
country. Thanks to the AFL-CIO, he is now free. Free enough to
be with us today.
Your work is often accomplished at great sacrifice.
Independent trade unions are often caught in a vise between death
squads on the right and guerrillas on the left. In El Salvador,
two of your own -- Mike Hammer and Mark Pearlman -- died at the
hands of a right-wing death squad. And in Nicaragua, the
Confederation of Trade Union Unity has been harrassed and
7
brutalized by the Sandinista regime's left-wing thugs.
It takes uncommon courage for workers to fight the scourge
of tyranny. Because dictators know that free unions mean
pluralism. And pluralism denies complete control. So the
tyrant's first targets for suppression, arrest, or murder are
often independent unions and their members.
In all, some 200 free trade unionists were murdered last
year around the world. We grieve deeply for these sacrifices.
Let there be no mistake: We condemn any efforts, by any
government, to try to intimidate democratic unions or their
members.
In Thailand, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines: the
AFL-CIO's support of worker education, libraries, and conferences
on human rights all add to the inevitable momentum toward worker
representation and collective bargaining.
Workers in Southeast Asia by the millions -- especially
children and young women -- are being used, abused, and
abandoned. Looking for a solution, we've enforced worker rights
as part of the Generalized System of Preferences -- and in our
trade policy review mechanism under the GATT, we've incorporated
worker rights.
In the long run, the surest solution to the struggle for
worker rights is to support the growth of democratic institutions
like free labor unions -- and to encourage economic development
that will render child labor and nightmarish working conditions
not merely illegal, but unthinkable.
8
Just as a house is built from the ground up, labor's house
rests on a bedrock principle of free association -- and rises by
the strength of its members. Free trade union movements today
stand on the threshold of change -- as a leading force for
democracy. Labor's strength has opened the door to freedom for
millions. The door must remain open.
Last week the Soviet Union celebrated the anniversary of the
Bolshevik Revolution. In a protest march, a banner was carried
that said, "Workers of the world, we apologize." It was the
first time in memory that Soviet authorities allowed such
demonstrations on that holiday. That banner is another sign that
democracy is doing the unthinkable, by saying the unspeakable.
The Nineteen Eighty-four of George Orwell has come and gone.
I am hopeful that 1989 will be remembered as the year when
American labor, business, and government first began to work
together, in a real partnership, for the freedom and dignity of
workers everywhere. Not out of some utopian vision -- but
because we simply believe in the same basic values.
The key to freedom rests in our hands. With that key,
nothing is impossible. The door to democracy will remain
unlocked: To each according to his ability... to dream.
Thank you. God bless you. And may God bless working people
everywhere.
###
Document No. 089012SS
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
DATE:
11/9/89
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY:
11/10/89 NOON
SUBJECT: PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: AFL-CIO CONVENTION
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
BATES
UNTERMEYER
CARD
ROGERS
CICCONI
WINSTON
DEMAREST
PINKERTON
FITZWATER
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Rm. 122,
x2930, no later than NOON, Friday, November 10, with a copy to
my office. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
Preseducts
and
(Lange/Dooley)
1989 NOV -8 PM 9: 19
November 8, 1989
9:15 p.m.
[AFLCIO.DOC]
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS:
AFL-CIO CONVENTION
WASHINGTON SHERATON
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1989
[TIME]
Lane Kirkland. Tom Donahue. Lech Walesa. Members of the
Executive Council. And assembled delegates.
This is a great moment for the AFL-CIO. After eight long
years of struggle, Lech Walesa is here to accept the George Meany
Human Rights Award, first intended for Solidarnosc. Back in
1981, you remember, Lech wasn't allowed to be here, to claim that
prize. And the waiting began.
(( You know, I can really identify with Lech. I understand
what it's like, to wait so long to get here
But I don't regret a minute of it. Because after all those
years, it's great to be with you -- and to see the members who
endorsed me, sitting back there in the last row
So lately I've been feeling pretty confident. Barbara had a
hunch I'd be addressing this group today. This morning she
caught me in the shower singing the "Union Yes" theme song
))
Let me begin by congratulating the leadership. Because of
Lane Kirkland -- now serving his tenth year, continuing the work
begun by George Meany before him -- your unions are spreading
like branches on a strong and growing tree: the Auto Workers,
the Mine Workers, the Teamsters, the Locomotive Engineers. Lane
Kirkland has done -- as he continues to do -- outstanding work on
behalf of organized labor. [PAUSE]
2
Lane's work to consolidate and renew Labor's strength gives
the AFL-CIO the power to play its best role: protecting the
rights of working Americans at home, and striving for those
rights abroad through the support of democracy around the world.
Labor has been an enduring force for freedom -- at times a
cry in the wilderness, at times the conductor of a thundering
chorus -- rejecting all forms of totalitarianism, fascist and
communist alike. With each passing year, through labor, freedom
is finding its voice.
You understand that democracy rests not on cold marble and
pieces of paper, but on institutions freely formed -- and fully
free. Look down the main street of any small town, and you see
them: Churches. Libraries. Schools. Union halls. Free
associations that are the beating heart of American liberty.
Such liberty calls for a democracy created less by
governments than by people -- through the give and take of
competing interests, individual and collective. A democracy that
rejects management-by-decree from any centralized, all-knowing
government. A democracy where people speak for themselves,
rather than allow their government to speak for them.
And above all, a democracy that allows for -- even
encourages -- disagreement. Earlier this month, a cabdriver in
Budapest said, "Can you eat politics? No. Can your children
wear politics? No. Can you pay your rent with politics? No.
Politics doesn't mean anything to working people. Politicians
are just a bunch of gangsters."
3
I may not agree with his reasoning -- but I defend his right
to reason as he chooses. And I take his comment as a very
positive sign. The fact that the cab driver could say it -- and
that a reporter could quote it -- is a symptom of positive
political change. A sign that democracy is doing its work in
Eastern Europe. Which, for all of its challenges, is good for
people. Even if it's occasionally hard on politicians.
Here, you and I may have differences. But those differences
?
are signs of democratic life. A way of life that demands
INSERT
p.3
Last July in Gdansk, standing with Lech Walesa at the
Workers' Monument, I pledged to the enormous crowd before us that
"America stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the Polish people in
solidarity." At Gdansk, we announced our Labor Initiative to
assist Solidarity and Polish workers make the difficult transition
from a discredited centrally-planned economic system to one of
free markets and hope for a better future.
Labor Secretary Dole also visited Gdansk in August to discuss
ways that our government, working together with organized labor in
the United States, can help. In just two weeks, Secretary Dole
Mos Yea, other
and Lane Kirkland will join forces on a Presidential Mission to
Poland -- our Government together with the AFL-CIO in solidarity
with Polish workers.
msert but add Kirkland by name
4
Let business and government learn from -- and lend momentum
to -- labor's unflinching demand for dignity on behalf of every
working man and woman: not just in Poland, but around the world.
Let us join hands. Let us work together as never before -- to
fulfill the great promise of freedom. //
There is so much to learn from labor's history of democratic
struggle. During Hitler's rise to power in the 1930s, American
labor was among the first to recognize that great evil. You
extended the hand of solidarity to those fighting in the early
underground movement.
When the Nazi regime was finally destroyed, American labor
went to work rebuilding democratic institutions and independent
trade unions.
Later, when postwar Western Europe was threatened by the
spread of international communism, American labor stood firm.
Tough, behind-the-scenes operators -- like Irving Brown, the
AFL's European representative -- saw to it that the alliance was
preserved and democracy prevailed in Western Europe.
When Irving Brown died last winter, after four decades of
fighting for workers' rights, he was widely recognized as an
architect of Western democracy -- symbolizing American labor's
commitment to freedom around the world.
Today the tradition continues -- nowhere more powerfully
was at the fou front, standing
than in Poland. The AFL-CIO, more than any other organization,
stood with solidarity in its darkest hour -- firm in the belief
that the dawn would come. Because of that support, courageous
5
leaders like Lech Walesa are now transforming Poland before the
eyes of an admiring world.
Stories of that transformation continue to unfold. Early in
[WOODZH]
this century, in the town of Lodz David Dubinsky -- later to
become the renowned head of the American Garment Workers -- was
arrested for organizing. In 1908, that would-be organizer was
sent from Lodz to Siberian prison camps, by the Czar. Last week,
a Solidarity union candidate was elected mayor of Lodz.
In Poland, Solidarity unlocked freedom's door. Today,
holding Poland in their hearts as an example and inspiration,
workers around the world are risking everything for democracy.
The door cannot be locked again.
Miners are striking peacefully in the Soviet Union for the
first time since the early 1920s, calling their independent union
-- and this is high praise for Lech Walesa -- "Solidarity."
With us today is a young man from Lithuania, Kazimeiras Woka
-- who is leading a fascinating double life as both Supreme
Soviet member, and worker activist -- trying to promote
democratic reform of the Soviet trade union system.
They
He and those like him offer hope for peaceful change, that which
them
the AFL-CIO is supporting actively -- through direct contact, and
assistance on workers' rights, labor-management relations, union
organization, and collective bargaining. These are the tools
your brothers and sisters abroad need most, to hammer out justice
on the anvil of freedom.
6
check
With new legislation in the Supreme Soviet recognizing the
right to strike, the people of the Soviet Union now have an
opportunity to voice their grievances. This will be a challenge
to President Gorbachev, as he works, through perestroika, to
raise productivity and living standards at the same time.
Across Eastern Europe, recent events vindicate the AFL-CIO's
refusal to deal with puppet unions controlled by either employers
or governments. Hungarian workers are turning to the Democratic
League of Independent Trade Unions. Czechoslovaks are
.
Rumanian workers are
East German workers have created
their first independent trade union, free of communist influence,
to be called "Reform."
Everywhere you look in the world, members of the AFL-CIO are
fighting to keep the door to freedom open for all. Working
against such evils as apartheid. Struggling for peaceful
democratic change toward a system of one man, one vote.
Supporting free trade movements in Paraguay. Guatemala. El
Salvador. Nicaragua.
And helping workers defeat Pinochet in the plebiscite, for
democracy in Chile. Manuel Bustos, president of the United Labor
Confederation there, was until recently exiled in his own
country. Thanks to the AFL-CIO, he is now free. Free enough to
be with us today.
Your work is often accomplished at great sacrifice.
Independent trade unions often get pressed in a vise between
death squads on the right and guerrillas on the left. In El
7
Salvador, two of your own -- Mike Hammer and Mark Pearlman --
died at the hands of a right-wing death squad. And in Nicaragua,
the Confederation of Trade Union Unity has been harrassed and
brutalized by the Sandinista regime's left-wing thugs.
It takes uncommon courage for workers to fight the scourge
of tyranny. Because dictators know that free unions mean
pluralism. And pluralism denies complete control. So the
tyrant's first targets for suppression, arrest, or murder are
often independent unions and their members.
In all, some 200 free trade unionists were murdered last
year around the world. We grieve deeply for these sacrifices.
Let there be no mistake: We condemn any efforts, by any
government, to try to intimidate democratic unions or their
members.
In Thailand, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines: the
AFL-CIO's support of worker education, libraries, and conferences
on human rights all add to the inevitable momentum toward worker
representation and collective bargaining.
Workers in Southeast Asia by the hundreds of millions --
especially children and young women -- are used, abused, and
abandoned. Looking for a solution, we've made worker rights part
of the Generalized System of Preferences -- and in our trade
?
policy review mechanism under the GATT, we've incorporated worker
rights.
In the long run, the surest solution to the struggle for
worker rights is to support the growth of democratic institutions
8
like free labor unions -- and to encourage economic development
that will render child labor and nightmarish working conditions
unthinkable.
not merely illegal, but irrelevant.
Just as a house is built from the ground up, labor's house
rests on a bedrock principle of free association -- and rises by
the strength of its members. Free trade union movements today
stand on the threshold of change -- as a leading force for
democracy. Labor's strength has opened the door to freedom for
rewrite
millions. No centralized government -- no tyrant of left or
tone
right, will ever lock it again.
down
Last week the Soviet Union celebrated the anniversary of the
Bolshevik Revolution. In a protest march, a banner was carried
that said, "Workers of the world, we apologize." It was the
first time in memory that Soviet authorities allowed such
demonstrations on that holiday. Like the Budapest cab driver'
comments about politicians that banner is another sign that
democracy is doing the unthinkable, by saying the unspeakable.
We may not in our lifetimes bear witness to the birth of a
new world order. But whether or not anyone can eat politics --
we are now able to watch totalitarianism eat its words.
The Nineteen Eighty-four of George Orwell has come and gone.
I am hopeful that 1989 will be remembered as the year when
American labor, business, and government first began to work
together, in a real partnership, for the freedom and dignity of
utopian
workers everywhere. Not out of some utopic vision -- but because
we simply believe in the same basic values.
9
The key to freedom rests in our hands. With that key,
nothing is impossible. The door to democracy will remain
unlocked: To each according to his ability to dream.
Thank you. God bless you. And may God bless working people
everywhere.
###
Document No. 089012SS
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
DATE:
11/9/89
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY:
11/10/89 NOON
SUBJECT: PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: AFL-CIO CONVENTION
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
BATES
UNTERMEYER
CARD
ROGERS
CICCONI
WINSTON
DEMAREST
PINKERTON
FITZWATER
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Rm. 122,
x2930, no later than NOON, Friday, November 10, with a copy to
my office. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
11:1d EI €100.68 68
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
(Lange/Dooley)
November 8, 1989
1989 NOV -8 PM 9: 19
9:15 p.m.
[AFLCIO.DOC]
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS:
AFL-CIO CONVENTION
WASHINGTON SHERATON
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1989
[TIME]
Lane Kirkland. Tom Donahue. Lech Walesa. Members of the
Executive Council. And assembled delegates.
This is a great moment for the AFL-CIO. After eight long
years of struggle, Lech Walesa is here to accept the George Meany
Human Rights Award, first intended for Solidarnosc. Back in
1981, you remember, Lech wasn't allowed to be here, to claim that
prize. And the waiting began.
(( You know, I can really identify with Lech. I understand
what it's like, to wait so long to get here
But I don't regret a minute of it. Because after all those
years, it's great to be with you -- and to see the members who
endorsed me, sitting back there in the last row
So lately I've been feeling pretty confident. Barbara had a
hunch I'd be addressing this group today. This morning she
caught me in the shower singing the "Union Yes" theme song...
))
Let me begin by congratulating the leadership. Because of
Lane Kirkland -- now serving his tenth year, continuing the work
I
begun by George Meany before him -- your unions are spreading
like branches on a strong and growing tree: the Auto Workers,
the Mine Workers, the Teamsters, the Locomotive Engineers. Lane
Kirkland has done -- as he continues to do -- outstanding work on
behalf of organized labor. [PAUSE]
2
Lane's work to consolidate and renew Labor's strength gives
the AFL-CIO the power to play its best role: protecting the
rights of working Americans at home, and striving for those
rights abroad through the support of democracy around the world.
Labor has been an enduring force for freedom -- at times a
cry in the wilderness, at times the conductor of a thundering
chorus -- rejecting all forms of totalitarianism, fascist and
communist alike. With each passing year, through labor, freedom
is finding its voice.
You understand that democracy rests not on cold marble and
pieces of paper, but on institutions freely formed -- and fully
free. Look down the main street of any small town, and you see
them: Churches. Libraries. Schools. Union halls. Free
associations that are the beating heart of American liberty.
Such liberty calls for a democracy created less by
governments than by people -- through the give and take of
competing interests, individual and collective. A democracy that
rejects management-by-decree from any centralized, all-knowing
government. A democracy where people speak for themselves,
rather than allow their government to speak for them.
And above all, a democracy that allows for -- even
encourages -- disagreement. Earlier this month, a cabdriver in
Budapest said, "Can you eat politics? No. Can your children
wear politics? No. Can you pay your rent with politics? No.
Politics doesn't mean anything to working people. Politicians
are just a bunch of gangsters."
3
I may not agree with his reasoning -- but I defend his right
to reason as he chooses. And I take his comment as a very
positive sign. The fact that the cab driver could say it -- and
that a reporter could quote it -- is a symptom of positive
political change. A sign that democracy is doing its work in
Eastern Europe. Which, for all of its challenges, is good for
people. Even if it's occasionally hard on politicians.
Here, you and I may have differences. But those differences
are signs of democratic life. A way of life that demands respect
for differences -- and respects an honest opinion, as much as it
respects an honest day's work.
Still, there are times when the need for progress demands
that we put differences aside. Where Poland is concerned, now is
such a time.
I've invited Lane Kirkland, [Bob Georgine], members of my
cabinet, and leaders from the business community to join together
in a mission to Poland later this month -- and I've been
encouraged by their responses. They'll be working together,
looking for new ways to assist reform, drawing on America's
experience with free markets and free trade unions.
Today, I call on the American labor movement, the business
community, and government, to look for ways to support a
partnership for progress in Poland -- for the sake of a nation,
and a people, that need and deserve our help. Labor, business,
and government can and should be partners and activists for
Poland's future.
4
Let business and government learn from -- and lend momentum
to -- labor's unflinching demand for dignity on behalf of every
working man and woman: not just in Poland, but around the world.
Let us join hands. Let us work together as never before -- to
fulfill the great promise of freedom. //
There is so much to learn from labor's history of democratic
struggle. During Hitler's rise to power in the 1930s, American
labor was among the first to recognize that great evil. You
extended the hand of solidarity to those fighting in the early
underground movement.
When the Nazi regime was finally destroyed, American labor
went to work rebuilding democratic institutions and independent
trade unions.
Later, when postwar Western Europe was threatened by the
spread of international communism, American labor stood firm.
Tough, behind-the-scenes operators -- like Irving Brown, the
AFL's European representative -- saw to it that the alliance was
preserved and democracy prevailed in Western Europe.
When Irving Brown died last winter, after four decades of
fighting for workers' rights, he was widely recognized as an
architect of Western democracy -- symbolizing American labor's
commitment to freedom around the world.
Today the tradition continues -- nowhere more powerfully
than in Poland. The AFL-CIO, more than any other organization,
stood with solidarity in its darkest hour -- firm in the belief
that the dawn would come. Because of that support, courageous
5
leaders like Lech Walesa are now transforming Poland before the
eyes of an admiring world.
Stories of that transformation continue to unfold. Early in
this century, in the town of Lodz, David Dubinsky -- later to
become the renowned head of the American Garment Workers -- was
arrested for organizing. In 1908, that would-be organizer was
sent from Lodz to Siberian prison camps, by the Czar. Last week,
a Solidarity union candidate was elected mayor of Lodz.
In Poland, Solidarity unlocked freedom's door. Today,
holding Poland in their hearts as an example and inspiration,
workers around the world are risking everything for democracy.
The door cannot be locked again.
Miners are striking peacefully in the Soviet Union for the
first time since the early 1920s, calling their independent union
-- and this is high praise for Lech Walesa -- "Solidarity."
With us today is a young man from Lithuania, Kazimeiras Woka
-- who is leading a fascinating double life as both Supreme
Soviet member, and worker activist -- trying to promote
democratic reform of the Soviet trade union system.
He and those like him offer hope for peaceful change, that
the AFL-CIO is supporting actively -- through direct contact, and
assistance on workers' rights, labor-management relations, union
organization, and collective bargaining. These are the tools
your brothers and sisters abroad need most, to hammer out justice
on the anvil of freedom.
6
With new legislation in the Supreme Soviet recognizing the
right to strike, the people of the Soviet Union now have an
opportunity to voice their grievances. This will be a challenge
to President Gorbachev, as he works, through perestroika, to
raise productivity and living standards at the same time.
Across Eastern Europe, recent events vindicate the AFL-CIO's
refusal to deal with puppet unions controlled by either employers
or governments. Hungarian workers are turning to the Democratic
League of Independent Trade Unions. Czechoslovaks are
.
Rumanian workers are
.
East German workers have created
their first independent trade union, free of communist influence,
to be called "Reform."
Everywhere you look in the world, members of the AFL-CIO are
fighting to keep the door to freedom open for all. Working
against such evils as apartheid. Struggling for peaceful
democratic change toward a system of one man, one vote.
Supporting free trade movements in Paraguay. Guatemala. El
Salvador. Nicaragua.
And helping workers defeat Pinochet in the plebiscite, for
democracy in Chile. Manuel Bustos, president of the United Labor
Confederation there, was until recently exiled in his own
country. Thanks to the AFL-CIO, he is now free. Free enough to
be with us today.
Your work is often accomplished at great sacrifice.
Independent trade unions often get pressed in a vise between
death squads on the right and guerrillas on the left. In El
7
Salvador, two of your own -- Mike Hammer and Mark Pearlman --
died at the hands of a right-wing death squad. And in Nicaragua,
the Confederation of Trade Union Unity has been harrassed and
brutalized by the Sandinista regime's left-wing thugs.
It takes uncommon courage for workers to fight the scourge
of tyranny. Because dictators know that free unions mean
pluralism. And pluralism denies complete control. So the
tyrant's first targets for suppression, arrest, or murder are
often independent unions and their members.
In all, some 200 free trade unionists were murdered last
year around the world. We grieve deeply for these sacrifices.
Let there be no mistake: We condemn any efforts, by any
government, to try to intimidate democratic unions or their
members.
In Thailand, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines: the
AFL-CIO's support of worker education, libraries, and conferences
on human rights all add to the inevitable momentum toward worker
representation and collective bargaining.
Workers in Southeast Asia by the hundreds of millions --
especially children and young women -- are used, abused, and
abandoned. Looking for a solution, we've made worker rights part
of the Generalized System of Preferences -- and in our trade
policy review mechanism under the GATT, we've incorporated worker
rights.
In the long run, the surest solution to the struggle for
worker rights is to support the growth of democratic institutions
8
like free labor unions -- and to encourage economic development
that will render child labor and nightmarish working conditions
not merely illegal, but irrelevant.
Just as a house is built from the ground up, labor's house
rests on a bedrock principle of free association -- and rises by
the strength of its members. Free trade union movements today
stand on the threshold of change -- as a leading force for
democracy. Labor's strength has opened the door to freedom for
millions. No centralized government -- no tyrant of left or
right, will ever lock it again.
Last week the Soviet Union celebrated the anniversary of the
Bolshevik Revolution. In a protest march, a banner was carried
that said, "Workers of the world, we apologize." It was the
first time in memory that Soviet authorities allowed such
demonstrations on that holiday. Like the Budapest cab driver's
comments about politicians, that banner is another sign that
democracy is doing the unthinkable, by saying the unspeakable.
We may not in our lifetimes bear witness to the birth of a
new world order. But whether or not anyone can eat politics --
we are now able to watch totalitarianism eat its words.
The Nineteen Eighty-four of George Orwell has come and gone.
I am hopeful that 1989 will be remembered as the year when
American labor, business, and government first began to work
together, in a real partnership, for the freedom and dignity of
workers everywhere. Not out of some utopic vision -- but because
we simply believe in the same basic values.
9
The key to freedom rests in our hands. With that key,
nothing is impossible. The door to democracy will remain
unlocked: To each according to his ability.. to dream.
Thank you. God bless you. And may God bless working people
everywhere.
###
RESEARCH CH
(Lange/Dooley)
1989 NOV - 8 PM 9: 19
November 8, 1989
9:15 p.m.
[AFLCIO.DOC]
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS:
AFL-CIO CONVENTION
WASHINGTON SHERATON
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1989
TIME 3:30PM
[
Lane Kirkland. Tom Donahue. Lech Walesa. Members of the
Executive Council. And assembled delegates.
]
This is a great moment for the AFL-CIO. After eight long
years of struggle, Lech Walesa is here to accept the George Meany
Human Rights Award, first intended for Solidarnosc. Back in
1981, you remember, Lech wasn't allowed to be here, to claim that
prize. And the waiting began.
(( You know, I can really identify with Lech. I understand
what it's like, to wait so long to get here
But I don't regret a minute of it. Because after all those
years, it's great to be with you -- and to see the members who
endorsed me, sitting back there in the last row
So lately I've been feeling pretty confident. Barbara had a
hunch I'd be addressing this group today. This morning she
caught me in the shower singing the "Union Yes" theme song
))
Let me begin by congratulating the leadership. Because of
Lane Kirkland -- now serving his tenth year, continuing the work
begun by George Meany before him -- your unions are spreading
like branches on a strong and growing tree: the Auto Workers,
the Mine Workers, the Teamsters, the Locomotive Engineers. Lane
Kirkland has done -- as he continues to do -- outstanding work on
behalf of organized labor. [PAUSE]
2
Lane's work to consolidate and renew Labor's strength gives
the AFL-CIO the power to play its best role: protecting the
rights of working Americans at home, and striving for those
rights abroad through the support of democracy around the world.
Labor has been an enduring force for freedom -- at times a
cry in the wilderness, at times the conductor of a thundering
chorus -- rejecting all forms of totalitarianism, fascist and
communist alike. With each passing year, through labor, freedom
is finding its voice.
You understand that democracy rests not on cold marble and
pieces of paper, but on institutions freely formed -- and fully
free. Look down the main street of any small town, and you see
them: Churches. Libraries. Schools. Union halls. Free
associations that are the beating heart of American liberty.
Such liberty calls for a democracy created less by
governments than by people -- through the give and take of
competing interests, individual and collective. A democracy that
rejects management-by-decree from any centralized, all-knowing
government. A democracy where people speak for themselves,
rather than allow their government to speak for them.
And above all, a democracy that allows for -- even
encourages -- disagreement. Earlier this month, a cabdriver in
Budapest said, "Can you eat politics? No. Can your children
wear politics? No. Can you pay your rent with politics? No.
Politics doesn't mean anything to working people. Politicians
are just a bunch of gangsters."
3
I may not agree with his reasoning -- but I defend his right
to reason as he chooses. And I take his comment as a very
positive sign. The fact that the cab driver could say it -- and
that a reporter could quote it -- is a symptom of positive
political change. A sign that democracy is doing its work in
Eastern Europe. Which, for all of its challenges, is good for
people. Even if it's occasionally hard on politicians.
Here, you and I may have differences. But those differences
are signs of democratic life. A way of life that demands respect
for differences -- and respects an honest opinion, as much as it
respects an honest day's work.
Still, there are times when the need for progress demands
that we put differences aside. Where Poland is concerned, now is
such a time.
I've invited Lane Kirkland, [Bob Georgine], members of my
cabinet, and leaders from the business community to join together
in a mission to Poland later this month -- and I've been
encouraged by their responses. They'll be working together,
looking for new ways to assist reform, drawing on America's
experience with free markets and free trade unions.
Today, I call on the American labor movement, the business
community, and government, to look for ways to support a
partnership for progress in Poland -- for the sake of a nation,
and a people, that need and deserve our help. Labor, business,
and government can and should be partners and activists for
Poland's future.
4
Let business and government learn from -- and lend momentum
to -- labor's unflinching demand for dignity on behalf of every
working man and woman: not just in Poland, but around the world.
Let us join hands. Let us work together as never before -- to
fulfill the great promise of freedom. //
There is so much to learn from labor's history of democratic
struggle. During Hitler's rise to power in the 1930s, American
labor was among the first to recognize that great evil. You
extended the hand of solidarity to those fighting in the early
underground movement.
When the Nazi regime was finally destroyed, American labor
went to work rebuilding democratic institutions and independent
trade unions.
Later, when postwar Western Europe was threatened by the
spread of international communism, American labor stood firm.
Tough, behind-the-scenes operators -- like Irving Brown, the
AFL's European representative -- saw to it that the alliance was
preserved and democracy prevailed in Western Europe.
When Irving Brown died last winter, after four decades of
fighting for workers' rights, he was widely recognized as an
architect of Western democracy -- symbolizing American labor's
commitment to freedom around the world.
Today the tradition continues -- nowhere more powerfully
than in Poland. The AFL-CIO, more than any other organization,
stood with solidarity in its darkest hour -- firm in the belief
that the dawn would come. Because of that support, courageous
5
leaders like Lech Walesa are now transforming Poland before the
eyes of an admiring world.
this century, in the town of Lodz [WOODI] David Dubinsky -- later to
Stories of that polish transformation continue to unfold. Early in
XX
ILGWU
X
become the renowned head of the American Garment Workers was
arrested for organizing. In 1908, that would-be organizer was
XX sent from Lodz to Siberian prison camps, by the Czar. Last week,
[WOODJ] Siberia
a Solidarity union candidate was elected mayor of Lodz.
In Poland, Solidarity unlocked freedom's door. Today,
holding Poland in their hearts as an example and inspiration,
workers around the world are risking everything for democracy.
The door cannot be locked again.
Miners are striking peacefully in the Soviet Union for the
first time since the early 1920s, calling their independent union
-- and this is high praise for Lech Walesa -- "Solidarity."
With us today is a young man from Lithuania, Kazimeiras Woka
-- who is leading a fascinating double life as both Supreme
Soviet member, and worker activist -- trying to promote
democratic reform of the Soviet trade union system.
He and those like him offer hope for peaceful change, that
the AFL-CIO is supporting actively -- through direct contact, and
assistance on workers' rights, labor-management relations, union
organization, and collective bargaining. These are the tools
your brothers and sisters abroad need most, to hammer out justice
on the anvil of freedom.
6
With new legislation in the Supreme Soviet recognizing the
right to strike, the people of the Soviet Union now have an
opportunity to voice their grievances. This will be a challenge
to President Gorbachev, as he works, through perestroika, to
raise productivity and living standards at the same time.
Across Eastern Europe, recent events vindicate the AFL-CIO's
refusal to deal with puppet unions controlled by either employers
or governments. Hungarian workers are turning to the Democratic
Free
League of Independent Trade Unions. Czechoslovaks are
X
Rumanian workers are
East German workers have created
their first independent trade union, free of communist influence,
X
to be called "Reform."
Bulgaria Podkrepo"
Everywhere you look in the world, members of the AFL-CIO are
fighting to keep the door to freedom open for all. Working
against such evils as apartheid. Struggling for peaceful
democratic change toward a system of one man, one vote.
lunion
Supporting free trade movements in Paraguay. Guatemala. El
Salvador. Nicaragua.
And helping workers defeat Pinochet in the plebiscite, for
democracy in Chile. Manuel Bustos, president of the United Labor
Confederation there, was until recently exiled in his own
country. Thanks to the AFL-CIO, he is now free. Free enough to
be with us today.
Your work is often accomplished at great sacrifice.
Independent trade unions often get pressed in a vise between
death squads on the right and guerrillas on the left. In El
7
Salvador, two of your own -- Mike Hammer and Mark Pearlman --
died at the hands of a right-wing death squad. And in Nicaragua, Rad of
the Confederation of Trade Union Unity has been harrassed and
Alvin
brutalized by the Sandinista regime's left-wing thugs.
"Guthrie
It takes uncommon courage for workers to fight the scourge
(fere)
of tyranny. Because dictators know that free unions mean
pluralism. And pluralism denies complete control. So the
tyrant's first targets for suppression, arrest, or murder are
often independent unions and their members.
In all, some 200 free trade unionists were murdered last
year around the world. We grieve deeply for these sacrifices.
Let there be no mistake: We condemn any efforts, by any
government, to try to intimidate democratic unions or their
members.
In Thailand, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines: the
AFL-CIO's support of worker education, libraries, and conferences
on human rights all add to the inevitable momentum toward worker
representation and collective bargaining.
Workers in Southeast Asia by the hundreds of millions --
especially children and young women -- are used, abused, and
abandoned. Looking for a solution, we've made worker rights part
of the Generalized System of Preferences -- and in our trade
policy review mechanism under the GATT, we've incorporated worker
rights.
In the long run, the surest solution to the struggle for
worker rights is to support the growth of democratic institutions
8
like free labor unions -- and to encourage economic development
that will render child labor and nightmarish working conditions
not merely illegal, but irrelevant.
Just as a house is built from the ground up, labor's house
rests on a bedrock principle of free association -- and rises by
the strength of its members. Free trade union movements today
stand on the threshold of change -- as a leading force for
democracy. Labor's strength has opened the door to freedom for
millions. No centralized government -- no tyrant of left or
right, will ever lock it again.
Last week the Soviet Union celebrated the anniversary of the
Bolshevik Revolution. In a protest march, a banner was carried
that said, "Workers of the world, we apologize." It was the
first time in memory that Soviet authorities allowed such
demonstrations on that holiday. Like the Budapest cab driver's
comments about politicians, that banner is another sign that
democracy is doing the unthinkable, by saying the unspeakable.
We may not in our lifetimes bear witness to the birth of a
new world order. But whether or not anyone can eat politics --
we are now able to watch totalitarianism eat its words.
The Nineteen Eighty-four of George Orwell has come and gone.
I am hopeful that 1989 will be remembered as the year when
American labor, business, and government first began to work
together, in a real partnership, for the freedom and dignity of
workers everywhere. Not out of some utopic vision -- but because
we simply believe in the same basic values.
9
The key to freedom rests in our hands. With that key,
nothing is impossible. The door to democracy will remain
unlocked: To each according to his ability. to dream.
Thank you. God bless you. And may God bless working people
everywhere.
# # #
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
November 13, 1989
Memorandum to Chriss Winston
From:
Jim Pinkerton If (wyA7)
Subject:
AFL-CIO Draft Speech
In addition, to the minor comments below, for what it's
worth, we point out that the President still has his union card
representing his membership in the Steelworkers during the '50s
-- a fact he referred to during the campaign.
pg. 2, para. 5, lines 1-6
"Can you eat politics? [etc.]
The Budapest cabdriver's monologue against politics serves
to make the point that "democracy
encourages
disagreement.
"
And this is a handy way of introducing the point two grafs later
that while the AFL and the Administration may often disagree, now
is the time to put differences aside.
While affirming this, we suggest drawing another lesson from
the cabdriver, if space permits, namely that the changes in
Eastern Europe represent the depoliticization of those countries:
that the changes there are a move in the direction of a society
more like ours in which politics doesn't matter as much --
doesn't intrude as much into everyday affairs.
###
Document No. 089012SS
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
13
11/9/89
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY:
11/10/89 NOON
DATE:
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: AFL-CIO CONVENTION
SUBJECT:
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
BATES
UNTERMEYER
CARD
ROGERS
CICCONI
WINSTON
DEMAREST
PINKERTON
FITZWATER
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Rm. 122,
x2930, no later than NOON, Friday, November 10, with a copy to
my office. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
Document No. 089012SS
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
DATE:
11/9/89
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY:
11/10/89 NOON
SUBJECT: PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: AFL-CIO CONVENTION
89 OCT
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
BATES
UNTERMEYER
CARD
ROGERS
CICCONI
WINSTON
DEMAREST
PINKERTON
FITZWATER
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Rm. 122,
x2930, no later than NOON, Friday, November 10, with a copy to
my office. Thank you.
RESPONSE: IT SEEMS THAT WE COUID MAKE MORE OF A NEWS tlook
WITH Trlis SPEECH iF WE USEO IT TO HEIP SETUPTHE PRESIDENT'S
ARE SUCCEED; GOOD THE DRAMATIC CHANGES iN EASTERN
TO CONFERENCE iN MAITA. IDEAS Alony THE lines OF "WE WANT PERESTROIKA
WORLD,,," FOR Community OF NATIONS AND THE EUROPE Assistant James to W. the Cicconi President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
MORE OF THIS WORDS AND IDEAS ON HOW THE U.S. Ext. 2702 PART
HiSTORiC PROCESS iN EASTERN EUROPE. CAN Bruce BE 3anus FOR S.R,
(Lange/Dooley)
1989 NOV -8 PM 9: 19
November 8, 1989
9:15 p.m.
[AFLCIO.DOC]
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS:
AFL-CIO CONVENTION
WASHINGTON SHERATON
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1989
[TIME]
Lane Kirkland. Tom Donahue. Lech Walesa. Members of the
Executive Council. And assembled delegates.
This is a great moment for the AFL-CIO. After eight long
years of struggle, Lech Walesa is here to accept the George Meany
Human Rights Award, first intended for Solidarnosc. Back in
1981, you remember, Lech wasn't allowed to be here, to claim that
prize. And the waiting began.
(( You know, I can really identify with Lech. I understand
what it's like, to wait so long to get here
But I don't regret a minute of it. Because after all those
years, it's great to be with you -- and to see the members who
endorsed me, sitting back there in the last row
So lately I've been feeling pretty confident. Barbara had a
hunch I'd be addressing this group today. This morning she
caught me in the shower singing the "Union Yes" theme song
))
Let me begin by congratulating the leadership. Because of
Lane Kirkland -- now serving his tenth year, continuing the work
begun by George Meany before him -- your unions are spreading
like branches on a strong and growing tree: the Auto Workers,
the Mine Workers, the Teamsters, the Locomotive Engineers. Lane
Kirkland has done -- as he continues to do -- outstanding work on
behalf of organized labor. [PAUSE]
2
Lane's work to consolidate and renew Labor's strength gives
the AFL-CIO the power to play its best role: protecting the
rights of working Americans at home, and striving for those
rights abroad through the support of democracy around the world.
Labor has been an enduring force for freedom -- at times a
cry in the wilderness, at times the conductor of a thundering
chorus -- rejecting all forms of totalitarianism, fascist and
communist alike. With each passing year, through labor, freedom
is finding its voice.
You understand that democracy rests not on cold marble and
pieces of paper, but on institutions freely formed -- and fully
free. Look down the main street of any small town, and you see
them: Churches. Libraries. Schools. Union halls. Free
associations that are the beating heart of American liberty.
Such liberty calls for a democracy created less by
governments than by people -- through the give and take of
competing interests, individual and collective. A democracy that
rejects management-by-decree from any centralized, all-knowing
government. A democracy where people speak for themselves,
rather than allow their government to speak for them.
And above all, a democracy that allows for -- even
encourages -- disagreement. Earlier this month, a cabdriver in
Budapest said, "Can you eat politics? No. Can your children
wear politics? No. Can you pay your rent with politics? No.
Politics doesn't mean anything to working people. Politicians
are just a bunch of gangsters."
3
I may not agree with his reasoning -- but I defend his right
to reason as he chooses. And I take his comment as a very
positive sign. The fact that the cab driver could say it -- and
that a reporter could quote it -- is a symptom of positive
political change. A sign that democracy is doing its work in
Eastern Europe. Which, for all of its challenges, is good for
people. Even if it's occasionally hard on politicians.
Here, you and I may have differences. But those differences
are signs of democratic life. A way of life that demands respect
for differences -- and respects an honest opinion, as much as it
respects an honest day's work.
Still, there are times when the need for progress demands
that we put differences aside. Where Poland is concerned, now is
such a time.
I've invited Lane Kirkland, [Bob Georgine], members of my
cabinet, and leaders from the business community to join together
in a mission to Poland later this month -- and I've been
encouraged by their responses. They'll be working together,
looking for new ways to assist reform, drawing on America's
experience with free markets and free trade unions.
Today, I call on the American labor movement, the business
community, and government, to look for ways to support a
partnership for progress in Poland -- for the sake of a nation,
and a people, that need and deserve our help. Labor, business,
and government can and should be partners and activists for
Poland's future.
4
Let business and government learn from -- and lend momentum
to -- labor's unflinching demand for dignity on behalf of every
working man and woman: not just in Poland, but around the world.
Let us join hands. Let us work together as never before -- to
fulfill the great promise of freedom. //
There is so much to learn from labor's history of democratic
struggle. During Hitler's rise to power in the 1930s, American
labor was among the first to recognize that great evil. You
extended the hand of solidarity to those fighting in the early
underground movement.
When the Nazi regime was finally destroyed, American labor
went to work rebuilding democratic institutions and independent
trade unions.
Later, when postwar Western Europe was threatened by the
spread of international communism, American labor stood firm.
Tough, behind-the-scenes operators -- like Irving Brown, the
AFL's European representative -- saw to it that the alliance was
preserved and democracy prevailed in Western Europe.
When Irving Brown died last winter, after four decades of
fighting for workers' rights, he was widely recognized as an
architect of Western democracy -- symbolizing American labor's
commitment to freedom around the world.
Today the tradition continues -- nowhere more powerfully
than in Poland. The AFL-CIO, more than any other organization,
stood with solidarity in its darkest hour -- firm in the belief
that the dawn would come. Because of that support, courageous
5
leaders like Lech Walesa are now transforming Poland before the
eyes of an admiring world.
Stories of that transformation continue to unfold. Early in
this century, in the town of Lodz, David Dubinsky -- later to
become the renowned head of the American Garment Workers -- was
arrested for organizing. In 1908, that would-be organizer was
sent from Lodz to Siberian prison camps, by the Czar. Last week,
a Solidarity union candidate was elected mayor of Lodz.
In Poland, Solidarity unlocked freedom's door. Today,
holding Poland in their hearts as an example and inspiration,
workers around the world are risking everything for democracy.
The door cannot be locked again.
Miners are striking peacefully in the Soviet Union for the
first time since the early 1920s, calling their independent union
-- and this is high praise for Lech Walesa -- "Solidarity."
With us today is a young man from Lithuania, Kazimeiras Woka
-- who is leading a fascinating double life as both Supreme
Soviet member, and worker activist -- trying to promote
democratic reform of the Soviet trade union system.
He and those like him offer hope for peaceful change, that
the AFL-CIO is supporting actively --- through direct contact, and
assistance on workers' rights, labor-management relations, union
organization, and collective bargaining. These are the tools
your brothers and sisters abroad need most, to hammer out justice
on the anvil of freedom.
6
With new legislation in the Supreme Soviet recognizing the
right to strike, the people of the Soviet Union now have an
opportunity to voice their grievances. This will be a challenge
to President Gorbachev, as he works, through perestroika, to
raise productivity and living standards at the same time.
Across Eastern Europe, recent events vindicate the AFL-CIO's
refusal to deal with puppet unions controlled by either employers
or governments. Hungarian workers are turning to the Democratic
League of Independent Trade Unions. Czechoslovaks are
.
Rumanian workers are
.
East German workers have created
their first independent trade union, free of communist influence,
to be called "Reform."
Everywhere you look in the world, members of the AFL-CIO are
fighting to keep the door to freedom open for all. Working
against such evils as apartheid. Struggling for peaceful
democratic change toward a system of one man, one vote.
Supporting free trade movements in Paraguay. Guatemala. El
Salvador. Nicaragua.
And helping workers defeat Pinochet in the plebiscite, for
democracy in Chile. Manuel Bustos, president of the United Labor
Confederation there, was until recently exiled in his own
country. Thanks to the AFL-CIO, he is now free. Free enough to
be with us today.
Your work is often accomplished at great sacrifice.
Independent trade unions often get pressed in a vise between
death squads on the right and guerrillas on the left. In El
7
Salvador, two of your own -- Mike Hammer and Mark Pearlman --
died at the hands of a right-wing death squad. And in Nicaragua,
the Confederation of Trade Union Unity has been harrassed and
brutalized by the Sandinista regime's left-wing thugs.
It takes uncommon courage for workers to fight the scourge
of tyranny. Because dictators know that free unions mean
pluralism. And pluralism denies complete control. So the
tyrant's first targets for suppression, arrest, or murder are
often independent unions and their members.
In all, some 200 free trade unionists were murdered last
year around the world. We grieve deeply for these sacrifices.
Let there be no mistake: We condemn any efforts, by any
government, to try to intimidate democratic unions or their
members.
In Thailand, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines: the
AFL-CIO's support of worker education, libraries, and conferences
on human rights all add to the inevitable momentum toward worker
representation and collective bargaining.
Workers in Southeast Asia by the hundreds of millions --
especially children and young women -- are used, abused, and
abandoned. Looking for a solution, we've made worker rights part
of the Generalized System of Preferences -- and in our trade
policy review mechanism under the GATT, we've incorporated worker
rights.
In the long run, the surest solution to the struggle for
worker rights is to support the growth of democratic institutions
8
like free labor unions -- and to encourage economic development
that will render child labor and nightmarish working conditions
not merely illegal, but irrelevant.
Just as a house is built from the ground up, labor's house
rests on a bedrock principle of free association -- and rises by
the strength of its members. Free trade union movements today
stand on the threshold of change -- as a leading force for
democracy. Labor's strength has opened the door to freedom for
millions. No centralized government -- no tyrant of left or
right, will ever lock it again.
Last week the Soviet Union celebrated the anniversary of the
Bolshevik Revolution. In a protest march, a banner was carried
that said, "Workers of the world, we apologize." It was the
first time in memory that Soviet authorities allowed such
demonstrations on that holiday. Like the Budapest cab driver's
comments about politicians, that banner is another sign that
democracy is doing the unthinkable, by saying the unspeakable.
We may not in our lifetimes bear witness to the birth of a
new world order. But whether or not anyone can eat politics --
we are now able to watch totalitarianism eat its words.
The Nineteen Eighty-four of George Orwell has come and gone.
I am hopeful that 1989 will be remembered as the year when
American labor, business, and government first began to work
together, in a real partnership, for the freedom and dignity of
workers everywhere. Not out of some utopic vision -- but because
we simply believe in the same basic values.
9
The key to freedom rests in our hands. With that key,
nothing is impossible. The door to democracy will remain
unlocked: To each according to his ability. to dream.
Thank you. God bless you. And may God bless working people
everywhere.
###
Document No. 089012SS
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
DATE:
11/9/89
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY:
11/10/89 NOON
SUBJECT: PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: AFL-CIO CONVENTION
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
BATES
UNTERMEYER
CARD
ROGERS
CICCONI
WINSTON
DEMAREST
PINKERTON
FITZWATER
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Rm. 122,
x2930, no later than NOON, Friday, November 10, with a copy to
my office. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
Connect
9E 8 v EI 100 jas
$3/6/71
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
(Lange/Dooley)
1989 NOV -8 PM 9: 19
November 8, 1989
9:15 p.m.
[AFLCIO.DOC]
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS:
AFL-CIO CONVENTION
WASHINGTON SHERATON
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1989
[TIME]
Lane Kirkland. Tom Donahue. Lech Walesa. Members of the
Executive Council. And assembled delegates.
This is a great moment for the AFL-CIO. After eight long
years of struggle, Lech Walesa is here to accept the George Meany
Human Rights Award, first intended for Solidarnosc. Back in
1981, you remember, Lech wasn't allowed to be here, to claim that
prize. And the waiting began.
" You know, I can really identify with Lech. I understand
what it's like, to wait so long to get here
But I don't regret a minute of it. Because after all those
years, it's great to be with you -- and to see the members who
endorsed me, sitting back there in the last row
So lately I've been feeling pretty confident. Barbara had a
hunch I'd be addressing this group today. This morning she
caught me in the shower singing the "Union Yes" theme song
))
Let me begin by congratulating the leadership. Because of
Lane Kirkland -- now serving his tenth year, continuing the work
begun by George Meany before him -- your unions are spreading
like branches on a strong and growing tree: the Auto Workers,
the Mine Workers, the Teamsters, the Locomotive Engineers. Lane
Kirkland has done -- as he continues to do -- outstanding work on
behalf of organized labor. [PAUSE]
2
Lane's work to consolidate and renew Labor's strength gives
the AFL-CIO the power to play its best role: protecting the
rights of working Americans at home, and striving for those
rights abroad through the support of democracy around the world.
Labor has been an enduring force for freedom -- at times a
cry in the wilderness, at times the conductor of a thundering
chorus -- rejecting all forms of totalitarianism, fascist and
communist alike. With each passing year, through labor, freedom
is finding its voice.
You understand that democracy rests not on cold marble and
pieces of paper, but on institutions freely formed -- and fully
free. Look down the main street of any small town, and you see
them: Churches. Libraries. Schools. Union halls. Free
associations that are the beating heart of American liberty.
Such liberty calls for a democracy created less by
governments than by people -- through the give and take of
competing interests, individual and collective. A democracy that
rejects management-by-decree from any centralized, all-knowing
government. A democracy where people speak for themselves,
rather than allow their government to speak for them.
And above all, a democracy that allows for -- even
encourages -- disagreement. Earlier this month, a cabdriver in
Budapest said, "Can you eat politics? No. Can your children
wear politics? No. Can you pay your rent with politics? No.
Politics doesn't mean anything to working people. Politicians
are just a bunch of gangsters."
3
I may not agree with his reasoning -- but I defend his right
to reason as he chooses. And I take his comment as a very
positive sign. The fact that the cab driver could say it -- and
that a reporter could quote it -- is a symptom of positive
political change. A sign that democracy is doing its work in
Eastern Europe. Which, for all of its challenges, is good for
people. Even if it's occasionally hard on politicians.
Here, you and I may have differences. But those differences
are signs of democratic life. A way of life that demands respect
for differences -- and respects an honest opinion, as much as it
respects an honest day's work.
Still, there are times when the need for progress demands
that we put differences aside. Where Poland is concerned, now is
such a time.
I've invited Lane Kirkland, [Bob Georgine], members of my
cabinet, and leaders from the business community to join together
in a mission to Poland later this month -- and I've been
encouraged by their responses. They'll be working together,
looking for new ways to assist reform, drawing on America's
experience with free markets and free trade unions.
Today, I call on the American labor movement, the business
community, and government, to look for ways to support a
partnership for progress in Poland -- for the sake of a nation,
and a people, that need and deserve our help. Labor, business,
and government can and should be partners and activists for
Poland's future.
4
Let business and government learn from -- and lend momentum
to -- labor's unflinching demand for dignity on behalf of every
working man and woman: not just in Poland, but around the world.
Let us join hands. Let us work together as never before -- to
fulfill the great promise of freedom. //
There is so much to learn from labor's history of democratic
struggle. During Hitler's rise to power in the 1930s, American
labor was among the first to recognize that great evil. You
extended the hand of solidarity to those fighting in the early
underground movement.
When the Nazi regime was finally destroyed, American labor
went to work rebuilding democratic institutions and independent
trade unions.
Later, when postwar Western Europe was threatened by the
spread of international communism, American labor stood firm.
Tough, behind-the-scenes operators -- like Irving Brown, the
AFL's European representative -- saw to it that the alliance was
preserved and democracy prevailed in Western Europe.
When Irving Brown died last winter, after four decades of
fighting for workers' rights, he was widely recognized as an
architect of Western democracy -- symbolizing American labor's
commitment to freedom around the world.
Today the tradition continues -- nowhere more powerfully
than in Poland. The AFL-CIO, more than any other organization,
stood with solidarity in its darkest hour -- firm in the belief
that the dawn would come. Because of that support, courageous
5
leaders like Lech Walesa are now transforming Poland before the
eyes of an admiring world.
Stories of that transformation continue to unfold. Early in
this century, in the town of Lodz, David Dubinsky -- later to
become the renowned head of the American Garment Workers -- was
arrested for organizing. In 1908, that would-be organizer was
sent from Lodz to Siberian prison camps, by the Czar. Last week,
a Solidarity union candidate was elected mayor of Lodz.
In Poland, Solidarity unlocked freedom's door. Today,
holding Poland in their hearts as an example and inspiration,
workers around the world are risking everything for democracy.
The door cannot be locked again.
Miners are striking peacefully in the Soviet Union for the
first time since the early 1920s, calling their independent union
-- and this is high praise for Lech Walesa -- "Solidarity."
With us today is a young man from Lithuania, Kazimeiras Woka
-- who is leading a fascinating double life as both Supreme
Soviet member, and worker activist -- trying to promote
democratic reform of the Soviet trade union system.
He and those like him offer hope for peaceful change, that
the AFL-CIO is supporting actively -- through direct contact, and
assistance on workers' rights, labor-management relations, union
organization, and collective bargaining. These are the tools
your brothers and sisters abroad need most, to hammer out justice
on the anvil of freedom.
6
With new legislation in the Supreme Soviet recognizing the
right to strike, the people of the Soviet Union now have an
thack
opportunity to voice their grievances. This will be a challenge
to Mar out it betain limited
to President Gorbachev, as he works, through perestroika, to
raise productivity and living standards at the same time.
Adectors acoss
Across Eastern Europe, recent events vindicate the AFL-CIO's
Not the board.
refusal to deal with puppet unions controlled by either employers
or governments. Hungarian workers are turning to the Democratic
League of Independent Trade Unions. Czechoslovaks are
.
Rumanian workers are
.
East German workers have created
their first independent trade union, free of communist influence,
to be called "Reform. "
Everywhere you look in the world, members of the AFL-CIO are
fighting to keep the door to freedom open for all. Working
against such evils as apartheid. Struggling for peaceful
democratic change toward a system of one man, one vote.
Supporting free trade movements in Paraguay. Guatemala. El
Salvador. Nicaragua.
And helping workers defeat Pinochet in the plebiscite, for
democracy in Chile. Manuel Bustos, president of the United Labor
Confederation there, was until recently exiled in his own
country. Thanks to the AFL-CIO, he is now free. Free enough to
be with us today.
Your work is often accomplished at great sacrifice.
Independent trade unions often get pressed in a vise between
death squads on the right and guerrillas on the left. In El
7
Salvador, two of your own -- Mike Hammer and Mark Pearlman --
died at the hands of a right-wing death squad. And in Nicaragua,
the Confederation of Trade Union Unity has been harrassed and
brutalized by the Sandinista regime's left-wing thugs.
It takes uncommon courage for workers to fight the scourge
of tyranny. Because dictators know that free unions mean
pluralism. And pluralism denies complete control. So the
tyrant's first targets for suppression, arrest, or murder are
often independent unions and their members.
In all, some 200 free trade unionists were murdered last
year around the world. We grieve deeply for these sacrifices.
Let there be no mistake: We condemn any efforts, by any
government, to try to intimidate democratic unions or their
members.
In Thailand, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines: the
AFL-CIO's support of worker education, libraries, and conferences
on human rights all add to the inevitable momentum toward worker
representation and collective bargaining.
Workers in Southeast Asia by the hundreds of millions --
especially children and young women -- are used, abused, and
abandoned. Looking for a solution, we've made worker rights part
of the Generalized System of Preferences -- and in our trade
policy review mechanism under the GATT, we've incorporated worker
rights.
In the long run, the surest solution to the struggle for
worker rights is to support the growth of democratic institutions
8
like free labor unions -- and to encourage economic development
that will render child labor and nightmarish working conditions
not merely illegal, but irrelevant.
Just as a house is built from the ground up, labor's house
rests on a bedrock principle of free association -- and rises by
the strength of its members. Free trade union movements today
stand on the threshold of change -- as a leading force for
democracy. Labor's strength has opened the door to freedom for
millions. No centralized government -- no tyrant of left or
right, will ever lock it again.
Last week the Soviet Union celebrated the anniversary of the
Bolshevik Revolution. In a protest march, a banner was carried
that said, "Workers of the world, we apologize." It was the
first time in memory that Soviet authorities allowed such
demonstrations on that holiday. Like the Budapest cab driver's
comments about politicians, that banner is another sign that
democracy is doing the unthinkable, by saying the unspeakable.
We may not in our lifetimes bear witness to the birth of a
new world order. But whether or not anyone can eat politics --
we are now able to watch totalitarianism eat its words.
The Nineteen Eighty-four of George Orwell has come and gone.
I am hopeful that 1989 will be remembered as the year when
American labor, business, and government first began to work
together, in a real partnership, for the freedom and dignity of
workers everywhere. Not out of some utopic vision -- but because
we simply believe in the same basic values.
9
The key to freedom rests in our hands. With that key,
nothing is impossible. The door to democracy will remain
unlocked: To each according to his ability... to dream.
Thank you. God bless you. And may God bless working people
everywhere.
###
EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20503
NOTICE:
Enclosed are comments from staff members of the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB). Such comments do not necessarily
represent the official position of the Director of OMB or of the
Office of Management and Budget. If you wish to have the
Director's personal comments, please let me know -- and contact
me if you have any questions.
David J. Haun
Executive Assistant
to the Director
Document No. 089012SS
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
DATE:
11/9/89
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY:
11/10/89 NOON
SUBJECT: PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: AFL-CIO CONVENTION
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
BATES
UNTERMEYER
CARD
ROGERS
CICCONI
WINSTON
DEMAREST
PINKERTON
FITZWATER
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Rm. 122,
x2930, no later than NOON, Friday, November 10, with a copy to
my office. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
Sa comment in PS 8
Lt :8v €100.68
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
(Lange/Dooley)
1989 NOV - 8 PM 9: 19
November 8, 1989
9:15 p.m.
[AFLCIO.DOC]
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS:
AFL-CIO CONVENTION
WASHINGTON SHERATON
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1989
[TIME]
Lane Kirkland. Tom Donahue. Lech Walesa. Members of the
Executive Council. And assembled delegates.
This is a great moment for the AFL-CIO. After eight long
years of struggle, Lech Walesa is here to accept the George Meany
Human Rights Award, first intended for Solidarnosc. Back in
1981, you remember, Lech wasn't allowed to be here, to claim that
prize. And the waiting began.
(( You know, I can really identify with Lech. I understand
what it's like, to wait so long to get here
But I don't regret a minute of it. Because after all those
years, it's great to be with you -- and to see the members who
endorsed me, sitting back there in the last row
So lately I've been feeling pretty confident. Barbara had a
hunch I'd be addressing this group today. This morning she
caught me in the shower singing the "Union Yes" theme song
))
Let me begin by congratulating the leadership. Because of
Lane Kirkland -- now serving his tenth year, continuing the work
begun by George Meany before him -- your unions are spreading
like branches on a strong and growing tree: the Auto Workers,
the Mine Workers, the Teamsters, the Locomotive Engineers. Lane
Kirkland has done -- as he continues to do -- outstanding work on
behalf of organized labor. [PAUSE]
2
Lane's work to consolidate and renew Labor's strength gives
the AFL-CIO the power to play its best role: protecting the
rights of working Americans at home, and striving for those
rights abroad through the support of democracy around the world.
Labor has been an enduring force for freedom -- at times a
cry in the wilderness, at times the conductor of a thundering
chorus -- rejecting all forms of totalitarianism, fascist and
communist alike. With each passing year, through labor, freedom
is finding its voice.
You understand that democracy rests not on cold marble and
pieces of paper, but on institutions freely formed -- and fully
free. Look down the main street of any small town, and you see
them: Churches. Libraries. Schools. Union halls. Free
associations that are the beating heart of American liberty.
Such liberty calls for a democracy created less by
governments than by people -- through the give and take of
competing interests, individual and collective. A democracy that
rejects management-by-decree from any centralized, all-knowing
government. A democracy where people speak for themselves,
rather than allow their government to speak for them.
And above all, a democracy that allows for -- even
encourages -- disagreement. Earlier this month, a cabdriver in
Budapest said, "Can you eat politics? No. Can your children
wear politics? No. Can you pay your rent with politics? No.
Politics doesn't mean anything to working people. Politicians
are just a bunch of gangsters."
3
I may not agree with his reasoning -- but I defend his right
to reason as he chooses. And I take his comment as a very
positive sign. The fact that the cab driver could say it -- and
that a reporter could quote it -- is a symptom of positive
political change. A sign that democracy is doing its work in
Eastern Europe. Which, for all of its challenges, is good for
people. Even if it's occasionally hard on politicians.
Here, you and I may have differences. But those differences
are signs of democratic life. A way of life that demands respect
for differences -- and respects an honest opinion, as much as it
respects an honest day's work.
Still, there are times when the need for progress demands
that we put differences aside. Where Poland is concerned, now is
such a time.
I've invited Lane Kirkland, [Bob Georgine], members of my
cabinet, and leaders from the business community to join together
in a mission to Poland later this month -- and I've been
encouraged by their responses. They'll be working together,
looking for new ways to assist reform, drawing on America's
experience with free markets and free trade unions.
Today, I call on the American labor movement, the business
community, and government, to look for ways to support a
partnership for progress in Poland -- for the sake of a nation,
and a people, that need and deserve our help. Labor, business,
and government can and should be partners and activists for
Poland's future.
4
Let business and government learn from -- and lend momentum
to -- labor's unflinching demand for dignity on behalf of every
working man and woman: not just in Poland, but around the world.
Let us join hands. Let us work together as never before -- to
fulfill the great promise of freedom. //
There is so much to learn from labor's history of democratic
struggle. During Hitler's rise to power in the 1930s, American
labor was among the first to recognize that great evil. You
extended the hand of solidarity to those fighting in the early
underground movement.
When the Nazi regime was finally destroyed, American labor
went to work rebuilding democratic institutions and independent
trade unions.
Later, when postwar Western Europe was threatened by the
spread of international communism, American labor stood firm.
Tough, behind-the-scenes operators -- like Irving Brown, the
AFL's European representative -- saw to it that the alliance was
preserved and democracy prevailed in Western Europe.
When Irving Brown died last winter, after four decades of
fighting for workers' rights, he was widely recognized as an
architect of Western democracy -- symbolizing American labor's
commitment to freedom around the world.
Today the tradition continues -- nowhere more powerfully
than in Poland. The AFL-CIO, more than any other organization,
stood with solidarity in its darkest hour -- firm in the belief
that the dawn would come. Because of that support, courageous
5
leaders like Lech Walesa are now transforming Poland before the
eyes of an admiring world.
Stories of that transformation continue to unfold. Early in
this century, in the town of Lodz, David Dubinsky -- later to
become the renowned head of the American Garment Workers -- was
arrested for organizing. In 1908, that would-be organizer was
sent from Lodz to Siberian prison camps, by the Czar. Last week,
a Solidarity union candidate was elected mayor of Lodz.
In Poland, Solidarity unlocked freedom's door. Today,
holding Poland in their hearts as an example and inspiration,
workers around the world are risking everything for democracy.
The door cannot be locked again.
Miners are striking peacefully in the Soviet Union for the
first time since the early 1920s, calling their independent union
-- and this is high praise for Lech Walesa -- "Solidarity."
With us today is a young man from Lithuania, Kazimeiras Woka
-- who is leading a fascinating double life as both Supreme
Soviet member, and worker activist -- trying to promote
democratic reform of the Soviet trade union system.
He and those like him offer hope for peaceful change, that
the AFL-CIO is supporting actively -- through direct contact, and
assistance on workers' rights, labor-management relations, union
organization, and collective bargaining. These are the tools
your brothers and sisters abroad need most, to hammer out justice
on the anvil of freedom.
6
With new legislation in the Supreme Soviet recognizing the
right to strike, the people of the Soviet Union now have an
opportunity to voice their grievances. This will be a challenge
to President Gorbachev, as he works, through perestroika, to
raise productivity and living standards at the same time.
Across Eastern Europe, recent events vindicate the AFL-CIO's
refusal to deal with puppet unions controlled by either employers
or governments. Hungarian workers are turning to the Democratic
League of Independent Trade Unions. Czechoslovaks are
.
Rumanian workers are
.
East German workers have created
their first independent trade union, free of communist influence,
to be called "Reform."
Everywhere you look in the world, members of the AFL-CIO are
fighting to keep the door to freedom open for all. Working
against such evils as apartheid. Struggling for peaceful
democratic change toward a system of one man, one vote.
Supporting free trade movements in Paraguay. Guatemala. El
Salvador. Nicaragua.
And helping workers defeat Pinochet in the plebiscite, for
democracy in Chile. Manuel Bustos, president of the United Labor
Confederation there, was until recently exiled in his own
country. Thanks to the AFL-CIO, he is now free. Free enough to
be with us today.
Your work is often accomplished at great sacrifice.
Independent trade unions often get pressed in a vise between
death squads on the right and guerrillas on the left. In El
7
Salvador, two of your own -- Mike Hammer and Mark Pearlman --
died at the hands of a right-wing death squad. And in Nicaragua,
the Confederation of Trade Union Unity has been harrassed and
brutalized by the Sandinista regime's left-wing thugs.
It takes uncommon courage for workers to fight the scourge
of tyranny. Because dictators know that free unions mean
pluralism. And pluralism denies complete control. So the
tyrant's first targets for suppression, arrest, or murder are
often independent unions and their members.
In all, some 200 free trade unionists were murdered last
year around the world. We grieve deeply for these sacrifices.
Let there be no mistake: We condemn any efforts, by any
government, to try to intimidate democratic unions or their
members.
In Thailand, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines: the
AFL-CIO's support of worker education, libraries, and conferences
on human rights all add to the inevitable momentum toward worker
representation and collective bargaining.
Workers in Southeast Asia by the hundreds of millions --
especially children and young women -- are used, abused, and
abandoned. Looking for a solution, we've made worker rights part
of the Generalized System of Preferences -- and in our trade
policy review mechanism under the GATT, we've incorporated worker
rights.
In the long run, the surest solution to the struggle for
worker rights is to support the growth of democratic institutions
8
like free labor unions -- and to encourage economic development
that will render child labor and nightmarish working conditions
not merely illegal, but irrelevant.
Just as a house is built from the ground up, labor's house
rests on a bedrock principle of free association -- and rises by
the strength of its members. Free trade union movements today
stand on the threshold of change -- as a leading force for
democracy. Labor's strength has opened the door to freedom for
millions. No centralized government -- no tyrant of left or
right, will ever lock it again.
Last week the Soviet Union celebrated the anniversary of the
Bolshevik Revolution. In a protest march, a banner was carried
that said, "Workers of the world, we apologize." It was the
first time in memory that Soviet authorities allowed such
demonstrations on that holiday. Like the Budapest cab driver's
comments about politicians, that banner is another sign that
democracy is doing the unthinkable, by saying the unspeakable.
We may not in our lifetimes bear witness to the birth of a
new world order. But whether or not anyone can eat politics --
we are now able to watch totalitarianism eat its words.
The Nineteen Eighty-four of George Orwell has come and gone.
I am hopeful that 1989 will be remembered as the year when
American labor, business, and government first began to work
together, in a real partnership, for the freedom and dignity of
workers everywhere. Not out of some utopic utopian vision -- but because
Holen
x5178
we simply believe in the same basic values.
9
The key to freedom rests in our hands. With that key,
nothing is impossible. The door to democracy will remain
unlocked: To each according to his ability.. to dream.
Thank you. God bless you. And may God bless working people
everywhere.
###