With the election of its new president, John J. Sweeney, it appears the AFL-CIO will be steered toward a more militant, hard-left course.

Sweeney has said labor must be a "worker-based movement against greed, multinational corporations, race-baiting and labor-baiting politicians."

Those who have watched Sweeney lead the Service Employees International Union -- which represents janitors and other support workers in office buildings -- say he is not above strong-arm tactics, fomenting violence and acts of retribution. The union's Justice for Janitors campaign featured guerrilla-style sidewalk and traffic blockades in several major cities.

The AFL-CIO's legislative agenda includes:

• A federal ban on allowing employers to hire replacement workers during a labor strike.

• Opposition to enforcement of the Beck Decision, which allows workers to withhold from union dues money that might go toward any activities other than collective bargaining, contract administration and grievance proceedings.

• Opposition to the Freedom from Union Violence bill which would close loopholes that hinder application of anti-extortion statutes to unions.

• Opposition to a national Right to Work law.