Campaign to Open AIFLD Archives Makes Major Progress

Thank you to all those who helped in this campaign. 

Followers/readers of Facts For Working People will recall that this blog participated in efforts to help brother Rob McKenzie former president of a UAW local, gain access to the AFL-CIO’s AIFLD archives. Brother Mckenzie worked at a Ford plant in the US that built links with a Ford factory in Mexico City where the union and its leadership faced violent attacks. He has had some success as his report below explains.

Brother McKenzie initially wrote a resolution that was passed at the Duluth Central Labor Body. (above) You can access the original resolution here.  Frank Hammer, another retired UAW official, whose brother was assassinated in El Salvador in 1981 also took an interest in the issue as it is well known that AIFLD was used by the CIA to suppress independent and particularly militant, trade unions abroad. There is more information about this here.  Other posts about this issue can be found searching under the Labor and Union labels to the right.

Facts For Working People appealed to other trade unionists and union Locals to follow Duluth’s lead and urge the AFL-CIO to release the AIFLD archives as a discussion on this aspect of US labor history and government and CIA involvement in it is crucial for the labor movement today. FFWP would like to thank the individuals and locals that responded to our call for resolutions and messages supporting Brother McKenzie’s efforts. Afscme’s Local 444 and 2428 in Oakland California sent similar resolutions. Afscme District Council 57’s Executive Board in Northern California discussed the issue and I believe it was tabled. The SUP, Seamen’s Union of the Pacific also supported the resolution as did the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty based in Toronto and DSA Labor Chicago. Individuals also associated with this blog approached Richard Trumka at conferences and urged him to act on the Duluth resolution and open the files. There was a major discussion on the issue at the St.Paul Labor Council where it was initially tabled then defeated. Those that have contributed to Brother McKenzie's efforts should not underestimate the importance of their actions.

Letter pt 1 Download Pdf

Attempts were made to get the resolution entered at the San Francisco Labor Council but were not successful. It is worth noting that here in the San Francisco Bay Area where there are thousands of people that consider themselves socialists or who are members of the self styled revolutionary organizations and often union members or officers, never responded at all to the appeal. This is a serious weakness of the so-called socialist organizations. The effects of having this discussed in the labor movement and in locals should not be understated. Just forcing a debate on issues like this matters.

Lastly we include a 1985 letter signed by trade unionists opposed to US military intervention in Central America directed at a labor body that had invited the head of AIFLD to speak (AIFLD received most of its money from the US State Dept.) and urged that the other side be heard.

Letter pt2 Download pdf

Facts For Working People thanks brother McKenzie for his efforts on behalf of trade unionists and the working class as a whole. Richard Mellor, Afscme Local 444, retired for FFWP.

 Report on the AIFLD Files

By Rob McKenzie
UAW Retired

I spent the last week at the Hornblake Library in College Park, Maryland viewing 18 boxes of American Institute for Free Labor Development files from the 1980s.  It has been 2 ½ years since I first submitted my request to the National AFL-CIO to see these files.  Over 20 years ago while an officer for a UAW local I was told that AIFLD had been involved in an attack on workers at a Ford plant in Mexico.  When I retired I determined to research this. Since many of you helped make this happen I wanted to send an account of the experience.  I attached pictures of the library and a statue of Fredrick Douglass in front of the building. The staff at the library was friendly and helpful.

The bulk of the documents concerned finances. A lot of money was changing hands and especially when the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) became involved they tried to account for spending.  For some of the grants in the 1980s the NED was unable to close them out 10 years later as they had not received the proper paper work.  AIFLD was disbanded before these problems were resolved.

The NED was proposed by President Reagan and supported by his CIA Director William Casey and created by an act of Congress in the fall of 1983 to promote "democracy building" overseas.  A few months later the Free Trade Union Institute (FTUI) was established to receive money from it.  The first directors included Irving Brown and William Doherty for which I can provide convincing documentation now were CIA agents for much of their lives.  The FTUI would then give grants to AIFLD.  AIFLD would then pay its approximate $19M annual expenses and also fund International Trade Secretariats and ORIT (a regional labor organization in Latin America).

The legislation that created the NED specifically prohibited lobbying and political activity in the U.S. It also prohibited hiring any individuals involved in intelligence gathering. I found a booklet prepared by AIFLD for its country directors on the NED funding and procedures. The booklet contained the prohibitions on lobbying and political activity but omitted any reference to intelligence activity.  I don’t know what happened with this for sure but suspect malfeasance.

While money was budgeted for Mexico, AIFLD appears to have reached an agreement with the CTM (Mexican government union) not to fund its normal activities there.  AIFLD spent most of its money in countries which had communist, socialist and leftist led unions. They obviously believed the CTM was sufficiently anti-communist and strong enough and that AIFLD involvement could compromise it.  The checks in Mexico used during this time had "NED/AIFLD Mexico" printed on them and they maintained an office and staff there. I remain convinced that the CIA was involved in covert activities in Mexico during the 1980s and was involved in Cuautitlán events.

I also found interesting correspondence between Doherty (Executive Director) and others.  He sent one letter to Elliot Abrams, Asst. Secretary of State, complaining about cuts to the NED.  He began "Dear Elliot".  He went on to say that security costs had risen for AIFLD and pointed out one armored car cost $51,000.  Democracy building in Latin America apparently required armored cars. (Our added emphasis FFWP)

I also found interesting info about the murders of Michael Hammer and Pearlman, AIFLD employees (perhaps CIA) who were gunned down in a Sheraton Hotel in El Salvador in 1981 by a right-wing death squad.  This initiated a big debate in the AFL over its foreign policy.  Opposition in labor to military aid to El Salvador and aid to the Contras, who were at war with the Sandinista government, escalated in part due to the attention that the Hammer/Pearlman killings drew.  I have attached a letter from an opposition labor group that was in the AIFLD files.  Union activists made a difference in what happened in Central America.

I have accumulated a large amount of research now and plan on spending the next several months writing and hope to be able to tell the story of the struggle that took place at Ford Mexico in the 1980s.

Senator Paul Wellstone at the Ford Factory in Mexico City