The Nation - News from June 1, 1986

Organized labor is a beleaguered movement that must turn inward for strength to fight hostility and misunderstanding, AFL-CIO President Lane Kirkland told presidents of 250 American Federation of Teachers union locals at a meeting in Washington. He said the labor movement had survived the economic straits of the mining and manufacturing industries, the bedrocks of employment for union members, and added that, with improved participation and solidarity, unions “can withstand a great deal of hostility from our employers . . . and even a lack of understanding from the public at large.”