HuffPost reports:

Carmen Berkley spent four years directing the AFL-CIO’s civil rights department, trying to advance the cause of underrepresented communities at the country’s largest labor federation. Her tenure overlapped with seismic social justice events, including the protests that followed the killing of Michael Brown by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014.

Berkley felt that the AFL-CIO often broached difficult conversations about race, but failed to follow through. With the country now engulfed in anger over police brutality, she believes the federation needs to cut its ties with police unions.

“It will take an extraordinary amount of bravery for the conversation to have action,” said Berkley, who is black. “My hope is that Americans know that American trade labor unions are different from police associations. Police associations are a dangerous group that need to be defunded.”

The recent police killing of George Floyd has brought new scrutiny to the power of police unions. Their collective bargaining agreements often undermine transparency and accountability around shootings, delay investigations and protect bad cops with long histories of excessive force. Their political power with both Democratic and Republican officials has made them hard to tame.

Police unions have long occupied an uneasy place within the labor movement. Many otherwise fierce trade unionists believe they need to be curbed in the interest of public safety and social progress. That might include opening their bargaining sessions up to public oversight, or restricting what they can bargain over. Some go so far as to say they should be abolished completely. [Continue reading…]