Union split rocks state’s AFL-CIO

AUGUSTA – A rift between the AFL-CIO and two other unions will cost the labor federation 14,000 members in Maine and perhaps some of its political clout, according to union leaders.

The Service Employees International Union and Teamsters announced on Monday their separation from the AFL-CIO. Nationally, the federation had 13 million members before the Teamsters and SEIU dropped out; they took about 3.2 million workers with them.

In Maine, the Teamsters have about 4,400 members and the Maine State Employees Association, which is affiliated with the SEIU, has 10,000 current and retired members, according to Ned McCann, the Maine AFL-CIO’s secretary-treasurer.

“No one in Maine was seeking this,” McCann said. “It’s a big hit on our membership and obviously that’s a problem.”

The Maine AFL-CIO, which shares office space with the SEIU in Augusta, will also suffer financially as a result of the loss of dues, said McCann. It could also take a toll in political clout as the AFL-CIO is able to set aside less money for political organizing, some union officials say.

Don Bilodeau, a shop steward at Bath Iron Works for the 5,000-member machinists’ union, said it was organized labor’s political machine that helped to elect Democrat Michael Michaud to Maine’s 2nd Congressional District seat and to oppose a plan to outsource BIW union jobs to a Massachusetts firm.

“It won’t be devastating, but I expect we will lose political effectiveness,” said Bilodeau, a member of the Maine AFL-CIO board.

The rift could also have a silver lining, said John Hanson, a retired labor specialist with the University of Maine. With the labor movement losing membership, a shake-up could be just what’s needed to re-energize the labor movement, he said.

MSEA Executive Director Tim Belcher said he expects to maintain a good working relationship with the AFL-CIO and other unions. Dana Graham, the MSEA’s president, believes the split will ultimately benefit workers by bringing the resources of two organized labor groups to bear on important issues.