
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, February 24, 1994                   TAG: 9402240076
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: C-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BAL HARBOUR, FLA.                                LENGTH: Medium

LABOR WANTS MORE EFFORT ON STRIKER BILL

Organized labor leaders, just getting over one tiff with the Clinton administration, are grumbling that the White House isn't trying aggressively to pass striker-replacement legislation.

"I don't think at this moment enough is being done," said Arthur Coia, president of the Laborers International Union.

But Labor Secretary Robert Reich, who met with union leaders Wednesday, said President Clinton is doing all he can to get the legislation passed.

Unions have made a top legislative priority this year the adoption of legislation that would prohibit employers from hiring permanent replacements for workers who go on strike.

It was adopted by the House last spring but is stalled in the Senate by the threat of a filibuster.

Clinton has endorsed the legislation, but labor leaders want him to support it as aggressively as he did the North American Free Trade Agreement.

"I think you have to see President Clinton out there the way he dealt with NAFTA," said Ron Carey, president of the Teamsters. "I think it takes political courage, the same kind of courage he used on the NAFTA issue."

Unions opposed the trade pact with Mexico and Canada and were so upset at the tone of the debate that they withheld early campaign contributions from the Democratic National Committee and the official Democratic House and Senate campaign committees. The chill in the relationship thawed just this week, as the AFL-CIO's executive council met.

Reich said the votes of three or four Senate supporters are needed to break an expected filibuster over striker replacement.

"The president is very supportive," he said, but "at this juncture, it is up to Congress and it does not appear that those three or four votes are forthcoming."

Asked if he thought the White House was fighting hard enough for the legislation, AFL-CIO President Lane Kirkland responded: "Nobody's working hard enough to suit me."

Coia said he appreciated Clinton voicing support of the bill, but "more effort should be put into living up to that commitment."

The legislation is expected to come to the Senate floor this spring. Sen. Edward Kennedy, chairman of the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee, said earlier this week that he thought backers could get the 60 votes needed to break a filibuster.

by CNB