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COPYRIGHT 2005 Voxant Inc.
Original Source: NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT
PAUL KANGAS, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT ANCHOR: The teamsters take a hike, walking away from membership in the AFL-CIO. And that`s not the only union defection from the country`s largest labor organization. It`s the biggest shakeup in the national labor scene since 1938.
SUSIE GHARIB, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT ANCHOR: A prescription for change at generic drug maker Ivax. It`s being bought out in a deal with a price tag of almost $7.5 billion. We`ll tell you who is taking over the Miami-based company.
KANGAS: The bull market in real estate is alive and kicking. Sales of existing homes hit a new record last month and the median price of a home rose at its fastest pace in a quarter of a century.
GHARIB: But some real estate investors are waiting for the boom to go bust, and then they hope to clean up. In our special series "home run", we`ll tell you how some so-called opportunity funds are betting on the bottom falling out of the condo market.
KANGAS: I`m Paul Kangas.
GHARIB: And I`m Susie Gharib. This is NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT for Monday, July 25.
Good evening everyone. Organized labor is becoming more disorganized tonight. Two of the nation`s most powerful unions have decided to break away from the AFL-CIO member unions that represent more than three million American workers. The surprising development came as the labor federation prepares to mark its 50th anniversary. As Diane Eastabrook reports, the dispute reflects how some labor leaders think the labor movement is out of step with the times.
DIANE EASTABROOK, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: The Teamsters and Service Employees International Unions quit the AFL-CIO today, accusing the labor federation of not keeping pace with a changing economy.
ANDREW STERN, PRESIDENT, SEIU: Companies not countries are making the rules. We live in a global not a local economy and we`re not so unwise to not recognize this is not the 1930s anymore.
EASTABROOK: The two unions made the announcement just blocks from where the AFL-CIO is gathering for an annual convention. The defection of the two groups will cost the AFL-CIO more than three million members and roughly $20 million a year in dues. But despite that, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney says his organization will survive the split.
JOHN SWEENEY, PRESIDENT, AFL-CIO: A divided movement hurts the hopes of working families for a better life and that makes me very angry. The labor movement belongs to all of us.
EASTABROOK: The teamsters and service employees unions boycotted the convention and formed a new group called the change to win coalition. The members are frustrated over declining union membership and think the AFL- CIO is spending too much money politicking and not enough money on organizing. The teamsters and service employees union say the money they`ll save in membership dues to the AFL-CIO will be spent organizing workers at more companies.
JAMES HOFFA, JR., PRESIDENT, INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS: It means we will mobilize our workforce differently to go out and have new initiatives to organize the American workers. What was to be done at the AFL-CIO is not working. We`re going to do something new.
EASTABROOK: Many labor experts weren`t surprised by the split and think it could reenergize organized labor.
ROBERT BRUNO, LABOR PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-CHICAGO: My sense is that there is the potential for a spike in organizing activity and creativity as the two sides engage in what will hopefully be some healthy partnering and not necessarily any serious competition.
EASTABROOK: At this point, the change to win coalition says it has no interest in rejoining the AFL-CIO sometime down the road. It says it is more interested in forming a new federation that would include unions not currently represented...
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