U.S. and Latin American Labor: the Dynamics of Imperialist Control

The American Federation of Teachers in the Middle East

“…It did this with the direct financial support and close coordination of the U.S. government. For example, the AFL-CIO's four international cold war agencies-the Free Trade Union Institute, the African American Labor Center (AALC), the Asian-American Free Labor Institute, and most notoriously, the American Institute for Free Labor Development (AIFLD)-were largely funded by the U.S. state and deeply integrated into the U.S. foreign-intelligence establishment (Barry and Preusch 1987;Carew 1998;Garcia 2003;Radosh 1969;Spalding 1976Spalding , 1988. In the 1960s, former CIA agent Phillip Agee claimed that a "CIA case officer [was] undercover in almost every AIFLD office abroad" (quoted in Spalding 1988, 20).…”

“…Particularly relevant for this article is the fact that provision of education and training has long been one of American labor's pivotal points of entry for intervening in the labor movements and civil society of other countries (Godfried 1987;Sims 1992;Spalding 1976). The AFL-CIO, along with other U.S. labor bodies, has run workshops and courses overseas for foreign trade unionists, set up regional training centers across the globe, and brought foreign union members to the United States to study in American universities and labor education programs.…”

“…. and the compilation of intelligence information about attendees' particular unions" (Scipes 2000, 10; see also Sims 1992;Spalding 1988). This practice is continued today by the AFT in the Middle East.…”

Organized Labor and U.S. Foreign Policy: The Solidarity Center in Historical Context

“…Besides giving vocal support to direct military interventions in places like Korea and Vietnam during this time period, the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and later the American Federation of LaborCongress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) engaged in a variety of campaigns to bolster un-democratic and authoritarian regimes friendly with the U.S. state and to destabilize governments which ran afoul of American geostrategic interests (Scipes 2010;Spalding Jr. 1988). Thus, the AFL and later AFL-CIO were accused of utilizing a dual-pronged strategy in regard to foreign policy that incidentally mirrored Samuel Gompers famous slogan of "rewarding friends and punishing enemies."…”

“…Paradoxically, in places like Haiti Robinson 1996;Spalding Jr. 1988), El Salvador (Deere 1982;Smyth 1987), Grenada (Boodhoo 1986;Spalding 1992), South Africa (Cohen 1979), Nigeria (Cohen 1979;Godfried 1987,), the Philippines (Scipes 2010;Shorrock and Selvaggio 1986), and Russia (Buhle 1999) the foreign institutes of the AFL-CIO did exactly the opposite by encouraging apolitical "bread and butter" business unions. Therefore, these scholars argued that under the mantra of "free" trade unionism the foreign institutes were working to stabilize or bolster authoritarian and dictatorial regimes by emboldening workers with the notion that the "proper" role for labor was at the collective bargaining table rather than through explicitly political activities.…”