New Haven Independent

As recently as yesterday, state AFL-CIO President Olsen said he expected the organization to endorse Lieberman not just in his primary against challenger Ned Lamont, but in the general election, too — even if Lieberman loses the primary and runs as an independent.

That changed in the hours before the federation voted Tuesday afternoon. At a lunch meeting of the organization’s Committee on Political Education, delegates from the machinists, teachers and auto workers’ unions, who support Lamont, convinced the group to change its mind and limit the endorsement to the primary.

When it came for the voice vote in the Omni ballroom, the “aye”s to endorse Lieberman rang loud and clear. But so did the no votes.

The decision to limit the endorsement to the primary represents a victory of sorts for Lamont’s challenge to the three-term incumbent. It leaves open the option that the federation could support Lamont in November against an independent Lieberman candidacy.

Still, the AFL-CIO endorsement gives Lieberman an important boost for the primary. It means that the statewide federation can pour money into the race and coordinate get-out-the-vote efforts of individual pro-Lieberman unions. The AFL-CIO represents around 180,000 unionized workers in Connecticut.

“The concern was about what was good for us internally,” Olsen said after the vote. “The votes were there [for Lieberman] by a wide margin. [But] we wanted to keep the labor movement focused” on a wide menu of campaigns — for governor and for U.S. House seats across the state.

Olsen also acknowledged the passionate opposition to Lieberman in the hall. “Our goal is to continue to meet with Sen. Lieberman on some of those disaffected issues,” Olsen said.

That disaffectio” manifested itself in the public debate in the Omni ballroom leading up to the endorsement vote Tuesday afternoon.

Judging by the applause level, Lieberman clearly had more supporters in the hall. Equally clear was the intensity of the opposition to Lieberman by a significant minority, especially among machinists and teachers. Some of the delegates who spoke for Lieberman felt the need to acknowledge the anti-Lieberman sentiment, in some cases to promise to work toward pushing Lieberman to become more responsive

Also clear in the hall was that, contrary to the Lieberman camp’s characterizations, Lieberman faces intense opposition on a host of issues, not just his leading role as a supporter for the War in Iraq. Delegates opposed to Lieberman’s endorsement spoke more about global trade pacts than about the war. “He just doesn’t seem to hear us. He always votes wrong on trade. That hurts my members,” said Tammie Botelho of the United Steelworkers (pictured). State machinists President James Parent spoke of how the state has lost 7,713 aerospace manufacturing jobs since 1993, jobs that have been fleeing to low-wage Third World countries.

Parent and others criticized Lieberman for voting for, or missing votes on, every free-trade agreement that’s come before the Senate. One day earlier, Lamont told the convention he’d push for better labor and environmental protections in trade agreements.

“It’s up to us to make him accountable. We don’t have to be in Boston to spill the tea ini Boston Bay,” said William Rudis, a machinists delegate.

Other Lieberman opponents cited his support for private-school vouchers, his lack of support over the years for universal health care, his support for right-wing federal judges, his initial openness to privatizing social security.

Buildings-trade and communications workers, on the other hand, repeatedly defended Lieberman in comments to the convention. They stressed Lieberman’s 84 percent lifetime AFL-CIO voting record.

“We stand for those that stand by us and with us,” said Bob Proto, head of both the Greater New Haven Central Labor Council and Yale’s blue-collar union.

Lieberman also won praise for helping postal workers’ push for information and protection when anthrax was discovered at their Wallingford facility in 2001.

Graphic testimony of how Lieberman delivered for a union came from Art Perry (pictured), political director for the Justice for Janitors drive taking place in Greater New Haven. Lieberman’s ties to Republicans helped the union, according to Perry.

Perry said Lieberman met with union organizers and agreed to call four Republican senators to argue against a rule that would have exposed union organizers to criminal penalties for working with undocumented workers. Lieberman made all four calls, Perry said. Two of the Republican senators ended up voting against the rule, which died.

Is the labor movement united or divided going into the primary campaigns? John Olsen was asked.

“We have a consensus movement,” he said. “After Aug. 8 we have more than a consensus.”