Fighting for consensus

Focus on working families helps Newby find common ground

By Sean Ryan
Daily Reporter Staff

"The way that we have gotten people to work together in the legislative and political arenas has been instrumental in unifying the labor union and developing the kind of support that is necessary for any union to succeed." David Newby President Wisconsin State AFL-CIO

Political affiliation, job type and union status don’t matter to Wisconsin State AFL-CIO President David Newby as long as he can get the job done.

He works with Democrats and Republicans, contractors and manufacturers and labor and management to build relationships that generate results.

“That’s not easy, but we are proud that it can be done if people are dedicated to helping working families,” Newby said. “The way that we have gotten people to work together in the legislative and political arenas has been instrumental in unifying the labor union and developing the kind of support that is necessary for any union to succeed.”

Newby has been in organized labor for the past 30 years, working with the Madison Labor Council from 1973 to 1982, followed by a four-year stint as president of the Madison Federation of Labor. In 1986, he was elected state AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer and moved up to the president position in 1994.

“There has been a lot of change since I first became active 30 years ago,” Newby said. “I think a lot of what I did back in the 1970s and ‘80s was -- and this is a constant concern -- to get unions from one sector to understand the issues and problems and structures of the other sectors.”

Newby said much of his history with the state AFL-CIO was spent fostering brotherhood between different industry unions within the organization. He said the AFL-CIO is strongest when its affiliates work together and support each other.

“If we are to be an effective labor movement that is not simply different segments working independently, but a broader movement, unions have to understand each other,” Newby said. “Today, while there are still differences, there is much more of a sense of solidarity. Thirty years ago there was a lot more suspicion, and often rivalry, between them in the AFL-CIO itself.”

United they stand

Newby said solidarity would strengthen the organization’s recent struggles to drive state and federal economic aid legislation toward unemployed workers trying to survive the recession. The state AFL-CIO played a pivotal role in getting the state’s Unemployment Insurance Advisory Council to recommend the Legislature extend unemployment coverage by eight weeks, he said.

“The biggest challenge today is certainly the economy,” Newby said. “Unfortunately, we don’t control the economy. But we can try to at least soften the blow and do what we possibly can to help people ride out the storm.”

Wisconsin’s government, like its federal counterpart, is evenly split between the two major parties, so Newby’s organization talks to Republicans and Democrats to generate consensus for the programs. The national AFL-CIO is moving across party lines at the federal level to push for what Newby called “decent economi-aid legislation,” but it’s encountering problems working with the Bush administration.

“The administration wanted to app-roach the problem by giving tax cuts to the corporations and upper-income taxpayers and wanted to do nothing for the people with low incomes,” Newby said. “We have a divided government. It means we have to work with both sides to provide policies that help working families. That’s not easy.”

Newby stressed that when he says working families, he means all working families, not just his organization’s members.

“People often tend to think of unions as serving their own membership, but much of what we do is attempting to help the welfare of all working families out there,” he said. “It is an immense responsibility because there is no other organization that can be doing what we are doing -- especially right now. These are times that we need to mobilize most effectively to protect the interests of working people.”

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