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A top labor official Tuesday called on Miami to justify
spending $8.5 million in federal funds to police last fall's trade
summit, which union leaders claim resulted in widespread brutality
against protesters.
The call by the AFL-CIO's Richard Trumka piggybacked on previous
allegations the country's largest labor group has made against Miami
over the Free Trade Area of the Americas gathering in November. Local
leaders have defended the massive police deployment as justified given
the promised onslaught of violent protesters.
Trumka said a planned AFL-CIO civil-rights lawsuit against local
governments would demand an accounting of the $8.5 million in federal
funds earmarked for FTAA security. He did not specify the concerns the
AFL-CIO has about the funds, but said tear-gas guns, water cannons and
other ''weapons'' were purchased by local police agencies before the
FTAA meeting.
''Something seems wrong to us about it,'' said Trumka, national
secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO. ``So what we want is an accounting. .
. . At least tell us how you spent the money.''
His comments came at the labor federation's annual leadership
retreat at the Sheraton Bal Harbour, one of the region's few unionized hotels.
Though the union, a steadfast backer of Democrats, made President Bush
its main target at Tuesday's news conference, it also focused attention
on another thorn in labor's side: police conduct in Miami last November.
Union protesters were among the more than 200 people arrested.
Organized labor strongly opposes free-trade agreements like the
FTAA, and served as a major orchestrator of the protests that have
sparked allegations of police misconduct.
Miami police spokesman Lt. Bill Schwartz declined Tuesday to
discuss the congressional appropriation, saying financial details
relating to FTAA security are spread throughout hundreds and hundreds of
public documents gathered as part of the agency's own review of FTAA incidents.
The U.S. government served as official host of the FTAA events, and
Congress approved the $8.5 million appropriation to cover local
security overruns.
In all, 21 law enforcement agencies provided security for the event, and the cost estimate stands near $24 million.
Miami is in the midst of sorting out how to distribute the federal
funds, which are under the authority of the U.S. State Department, said
Susy Torriente, assistant county manager for Miami-Dade.
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