(C) Common Dreams
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Unions Protest Against Bush's Social Security Proposal [1]

['Steven Greenhouse']

Date: 2005-04-01

"I think we've probably kept a lot of members from publicly declaring their support for the president's plan," said Bill Samuel, the A.F.L.-C.I.O.'s legislative director. "I think Republicans are showing greater and greater caution about this issue."

The president's supporters are firing back by accusing unions of using unfair, and possibly illegal, tactics. Representative John A. Boehner, Republican of Ohio, who is chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, has urged the Labor Department to investigate whether labor's tactics violated the ban on secondary boycotts -- boycotts against any party not directly involved in a labor dispute -- and other laws.

"The debate over how to ensure the solvency of Social Security for future generations should be open and honest, but it shouldn't be influenced by special interests who may be breaking federal law," Mr. Boehner said in a letter he wrote along with Representative Sam Johnson, Republican of Texas, who heads the House Subcommittee on Employer-Employee Relations.

Picking up on this idea, Derrick Max, president of a group favoring personal accounts, the Coalition for the Modernization and Protection of America's Social Security, said yesterday: "Union pension trustees are charged with one focus -- the profitability of the funds for their membership. We think using the funds in a political way is a disservice to their members and potentially violates the law by breaching their fiduciary duties."

Richard Trumka, the A.F.L.-C.I.O.'s secretary-treasurer, said union leaders and pension fund managers were defending workers' financial interests and exercising their fiduciary duties when they battled Mr. Bush's plan.

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[1] Url: https://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/01/politics/unions-protest-against-bushs-social-security-proposal.html

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