Does Labor Need Another Wimpy?

One of the great mysteries of American labor four decades ago -- for those of us first encountering its then-dominant culture of blue-collar machismo -- was how anyone known as "Wimpy" (or "Wimp" for short) could become president of an AFL-CIO union. In the militant 1970s, a moniker like that was not a great boon to getting elected shop steward in many workplaces. Patrick Halley's new authorized biography of William Winpisinger (called Wimpy, of course) shows how the International Association of Machinists (IAM) leader transcended his anomalous nickname during a colorful 41-year career. By the time Winpisinger retired in 1989, no one in the top ranks of labor seemed less like J. Wellington Wimpy, the cowardly comic strip pal of Popeye.

The IAM leader was, instead, a very unusual profile in political independence, whose example is worth recalling in 2011. His outspoken criticism of another disappointing Democratic president, Jimmy Carter, stands in sharp contrast to the tabby-cat role that labor leaders seem to be playing at the Obama White House today, no matter how much their members get kicked around on trade deals, health care reform, workers' rights, deficit reduction, or business-friendly appointments. When Carter let unions down on labor law reform and other legislative priorities in the late '70s, Winpisinger wasn't afraid to organize within the Democratic Party to challenge him from the left. "To me," he told an IAM conference in 1978, "President Carter is through. He's a weak, vacillating, and ineffective President."

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