Joseph Lane Kirkland (March 12, 1922 - August 14, 1999) US union leader.

Biography

Kirkland was born in Camden, South Carolina.

In 1941, Kirkland entered the United States Merchant Marine Academy, graduated 1942, and became an officer on U.S. merchant ships during World War II. After the war, he worked in the Research Department of the AFL. He received a B.S. degree from the prestigious Georgetown University School of Foreign Service.

Kirkland married Edith Draper Hollyday in June 1944, with whom he had five daughters. A year after their divorce in 1972, he married Irena Neumann.

From 1979 to 1995 he was president of the American Federation of Labor – Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO). During his tenure, union membership in the United States declined precipitously. The unions suffered some of their most serious defeats, including the 1981 air traffic controllers's strike and the 1985 Hormel meat packer's strike.

The AFL-CIO continued to be highly supportive of U.S. foreign policy during the 1970's and 1980's. The Free Trade Union Committee , which had supported the Vietnam War under Kirkland's predecessor George Meany, was reconstituted as the Free Trade Union Institute (FTUI). The FTUI cooperated with the National Endowment for Democracy, which received CIA funding, to support pro-government unions and subvert anti-government unions in Latin America and Europe.

Kirkland died in Washington, D.C..

External links

Articles

• Lane Kirkland (1922 - 1999) AFL-CIO history page.
• Free Trade Union Institute the foreign arm of the AFL-CIO from 1977.
• Lane Kirkland: The AFL-CIO's last cold warrior by Jim Smith
• Freedom's Labors: Lane Kirkland worked for more than his union by Fred Siegel. Wall Street Journal. OpinionJournal.com. Tuesday, March 8, 2005 12:01 a.m. EST. Accessed April 3, 2005.

Books

• Lane Kirkland : Champion of American Labor by Arch Puddington. 352 pages. Publisher: Wiley (January 14, 2005). ISBN 0471416940.
• Taking Care of Business: Samuel Gompers, George Meany, Lane Kirkland, and the Tragedy of American Labor by Paul Buhle . 224 pages. Publisher: Monthly Review Press (August 1, 1999). ISBN 1583670033.