Thomas Donahue, Influential Leader of Organized Labor, Dies at 94

As Mr. Kirkland’s lieutenant throughout the 1980s and early ’90s, Mr. Donahue shared the scorn of disgruntled unionists as one industrial plant after another closed and the service economy grew rapidly with little union organization. Jobs went to foreign competition and to new processes, while strike after strike was lost, including one by the nation’s air traffic controllers in 1981.

There were also major successes in the Kirkland-Donahue years. Autoworkers, mine workers, longshoremen, warehousemen and the Teamsters joined or rejoined the A.F.L.-C.I.O. The first woman was placed on the organization’s executive council and the participation of Black and Hispanic people on the council was raised, though hardly enough to satisfy critics.

But the number of unionized workers fell to 15.5 percent from 24 percent of the American work force in the Kirkland-Donahue years. The A.F.L.-C.I.O.’s political power also faded, as fights were repeatedly lost in Congress. A notable loss was the failure in 1993 to block passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which unions had opposed in anticipation of American job losses to Mexico.

Despite being subordinate to Mr. Kirkland, Mr. Donahue was an influential union leader. He oversaw A.F.L-C.I.O lobbying, petition drives and a $3.2 million budget for advertising and promotion campaigns. He helped build a working coalition between the federation and environmentalists, notably the Sierra Club and the National Toxics Campaign.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/19/obituaries/thomas-donahue-dead.html