A Year ago, John Sweeney swept away the forces of Lane Kirkland to become president of the AFL-CIO. His triumph was hailed in the media as reinvigorating the labor movement with a breath of go-go progressive air.
Sweeney soon announced the change of a decadesold ritual, the winter executive-council meeting (known by union wags as “the beaching of the whales” ). This is where labor bosses with pocked slabs of fat cushioning what used to be their obliques smoke fine cigars under Bal Harbour cabanas, displaying to the average $ 30,000-a-year pipefitter how fiscally responsible they are with his membership dues. The image-conscious Sweeney decided that no longer would the meeting be held at the four-star, $ 250-plusa-night Bal Harbour Sheraton; instead, it would be held at the four-star, $ 200-plus-a-night Regal Biltmore in Los Angeles. (Although the Paris apartment and the corporate jet have stayed.)
