American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations | |
 | |
| Formation | December 5, 1955; 69 years ago (1955-12-05) |
|---|---|
| Merger of | |
| Type | Trade union center |
| Headquarters | Washington, D.C., US |
| Location |
|
| Membership | 12,471,480[1] (2022) |
President | Liz Shuler |
Secretary-treasurer | Fred Redmond |
| Secessions | Change to Win Federation |
| Affiliations | International Trade Union Confederation |
| Website | aflcio |
TheAmerican Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) is anational trade union center that is the largest federation ofunions in the United States. It is made up of 61 national and international unions, together representing nearly 15 million active and retired workers.[1][2] The AFL-CIO engages in substantial political spending and activism, typically in support ofprogressive andpro-labor policies.[3]
The AFL-CIO was formed in 1955 when theAmerican Federation of Labor and theCongress of Industrial Organizations merged after a long estrangement. Union membership in the US peaked in 1979, when the AFL-CIO's affiliated unions had nearly twenty million members.[4] From 1955 until 2005, the AFL-CIO's member unions represented nearly all unionized workers in the United States. Several large unions split away from AFL-CIO and formed the rivalChange to Win Federation in 2005, although a number of those unions have since re-affiliated, and many locals of Change to Win are either part of or work with their local central labor councils. The largest unions currently in the AFL-CIO are theService Employees International Union (SEIU), with 2 million members,American Federation of Teachers (AFT) with approximately 1.7 million members,[5]American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), with approximately 1.4 million members,[6] andUnited Food and Commercial Workers with 1.2 million members.[7]
The AFL-CIO is a federation of international labor unions. As a voluntary federation, the AFL-CIO has little authority over the affairs of its member unions except in extremely limited cases (such as the ability to expel a member union for corruption[8] and enforce resolution of disagreements over jurisdiction or organizing). As of January 2025, the AFL-CIO had 61 member unions representing nearly 15 million members.[1][2]
The AFL-CIO was a major component of theNew Deal Coalition that dominated politics into the mid-1960s.[9] Although it has lost membership, finances, and political clout since 1970, it remains a major player onthe liberal side of national politics, with a great deal of activity in lobbying,grassroots organizing, coordinating with other liberal organizations, fund-raising, and recruiting and supporting candidates around the country.[10]
In recent years the AFL-CIO has concentrated its political efforts on lobbying in Washington and the state capitals, and on "GOTV" (get-out-the-vote) campaigns in major elections. For example, in the 2010 midterm elections, it sent 28.6 million pieces of mail. Members received a "slate card" with a list of union endorsements matched to the member's congressional district, along with a "personalized" letter from President Obama emphasizing the importance of voting. In addition, 100,000 volunteers went door-to-door to promote endorsed candidates to 13 million union voters in 32 states.[11][12]
The AFL-CIO is governed by its members, who meet in a quadrennial convention. Each member union elects delegates, based on proportional representation. The AFL-CIO's state federations, central and local labor councils, constitutional departments, and constituent groups are also entitled to delegates. The delegates elect officers and vice presidents, debate and approve policy, and set dues.[13]
From 1951 to 1996, the Executive Council held its winter meeting in the resort town ofBal Harbour, Florida.[14] The meeting at the Bal Harbour Sheraton has been the object of frequent criticism, including over a labor dispute at the hotel itself.[15][16][17]
Citing image concerns, the council changed the meeting site toLos Angeles.[18][19] However, the meeting was moved back to Bal Harbour several years later.[20] The 2012 meeting was held inOrlando, Florida.[21]
The AFL-CIO constitution permits international unions to pay state federation and central labor council (CLC) dues directly, rather than have each local or state federation pay them. This relieves each union's state and local affiliates of the administrative duty of assessing, collecting and paying the dues. International unions assess the AFL-CIO dues themselves, and collect them on top of their own dues-generating mechanisms or simply pay them out of the dues the international collects. But not all international unions pay their required state federation and CLC dues.[22]
One of the most well-known departments was theIndustrial Union Department (IUD). It had been constitutionally mandated by the new AFL-CIO constitution created by the merger of the AFL and CIO in 1955,[23] as CIO unions felt that the AFL's commitment to industrial unionism was not strong enough to permit the department to survive without a constitutional mandate. For many years, the IUD was ade facto organizing department in the AFL-CIO. For example, it provided money to the near-destituteAmerican Federation of Teachers (AFT) as it attempted to organize theUnited Federation of Teachers in 1961. The organizing money enabled the AFT to win the election and establish its first large collective bargaining affiliate. For many years, the IUD remained rather militant on a number of issues.
There are six AFL-CIO constitutionally mandated departments:
Constituency groups arenonprofit organizations chartered and funded by the AFL-CIO as voter registration and mobilization bodies. These groups conduct research, host training and educational conferences, issue research reports and publications, lobby for legislation and build coalitions with local groups. Each constituency group has the right to sit in on AFL-CIO executive council meetings, and to exercise representational and voting rights at AFL-CIO conventions.
The AFL-CIO's seven constituency groups include theA. Philip Randolph Institute, the AFL-CIO Union Veterans Council, theAsian Pacific American Labor Alliance, theCoalition of Black Trade Unionists, theCoalition of Labor Union Women, theLabor Council for Latin American Advancement andPride at Work.
The Working for America Institute started out as a department of the AFL-CIO. Established in 1958, it was previously known as the Human Resources Development Institute (HRDI). John Sweeney renamed the department and spun it off as an independent organization in 1998 to act as a lobbying group to promote economic development, develop new economic policies, and lobby Congress on economic policy.[24] TheAmerican Center for International Labor Solidarity started out as the Free Trade Union Committee (FTUC), which internationally promoted free labor-unions.[25]
Other organizations that are allied with the AFL-CIO include:
Programs are organizations established and controlled by the AFL-CIO to serve certain organizational goals. Programs of the AFL-CIO include the AFL-CIO Building Investment Trust, theAFL-CIO Employees Federal Credit Union, the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust, theNational Labor College and Union Privilege.
The AFL-CIO is affiliated to the Brussels-basedInternational Trade Union Confederation, formed November 1, 2006. The new body incorporated the member organizations of theInternational Confederation of Free Trade Unions, of which the AFL-CIO had long been part. The AFL-CIO had had a very active foreign policy in building and strengthening free trade unions. During theCold War, it vigorously opposed Communist unions in Latin America and Europe. In opposing Communism, it helped split theCGT in France and helped create the anti-CommunistForce Ouvrière.[26]
According to the cybersecurity firm Area 1, hackers working for thePeople's Liberation Army Strategic Support Force compromised the networks of the AFL-CIO in order to gain information on negotiations for theTrans-Pacific Partnership.[27]
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The AFL-CIO has a long relationship with civil rights struggles. One of the major points of contention between the AFL and the CIO, particularly in the era immediately after the CIO split off, was the CIO's willingness to include black workers (excluded by the AFL in its focus on craft unionism).[28][29][30] Later, black workers would also criticize the CIO for abandoning their interests, particularly after the merger with the AFL.[31]
In 1961,Martin Luther King Jr. gave a speech titled "If the Negro Wins, Labor Wins" to the organization's convention inBal Harbour, Florida.[32] King hoped for a coalition between civil rights and labor that would improve the situation for the entire working class by ending racial discrimination. However, King also criticized the AFL-CIO for its tolerance of unions that excluded black workers.[32] "I would be lacking in honesty," he told the delegates of the 1965 Illinois AFL-CIO Convention during his keynote address, "if I did not point out that the labor movement of thirty years ago did more in that period for civil rights than labor is doing today...Our combined strength is potentially enormous, but we have not used a fraction of it for our own good or the needs of society as a whole."[33] King and the AFL-CIO diverged further in 1967, when King announced his opposition to theVietnam War, which the AFL-CIO strongly supported.[34] The AFL-CIO endorsed theCivil Rights Act of 1964.[35]
In the 21st century, the AFL-CIO has been criticized by campaigners against police violence for its affiliation with theInternational Union of Police Associations (IUPA).[36][37] On May 31, 2020, the AFL-CIO offices inWashington, DC, were set on fire during theGeorge Floyd protests taking place in the city.[38] In response, AFL-CIO presidentRichard Trumka condemned both themurder of George Floyd and the destruction of the offices, but did not address demands to end the organization's affiliation with the IUPA.[39]
After the smashing electoral victory ofPresident Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964, the heavily Democratic Congress passed a raft of liberal legislation. Labor union leaders claimed credit for the widest range of liberal laws since the New Deal era, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964; the Voting Rights Act of 1965; the War on Poverty; aid to cities and education; increased Social Security benefits; and Medicare for the elderly. The 1966 elections were an unexpected disaster, with defeats for many of the more liberal Democrats. According to Alan Draper, the AFL-CIO Committee on Political Action (COPE) was the main electioneering unit of the labor movement. It ignored the white backlash against civil rights. The COPE assumed falsely that union members were interested in issues of greatest salience to union leadership, but polls showed this was not true. The members were much more conservative. The younger ones were deeply concerned about taxes and crime, and the older ones had more conservative social views. Furthermore, a new issue—the War in Vietnam—was bitterly splitting theNew Deal coalition into hawks (led by Johnson and Vice PresidentHubert Humphrey) and doves (led by SenatorsEugene McCarthy andRobert Kennedy).[40] The AFL-CIO continued to experience political defeats in the 1970s, particularly when it came to the Democratic nomination of George McGovern in 1972. The federation leaders were opposed to McGovern's stance on issues such as the Vietnam War.[41] Although they attempted to stop the nomination at the Democratic National Convention of 1972, their attempts proved to be futile as they realized the chokehold they had on politics was giving way to a more diverse set of delegates. This marked a turning point in the political power they held as a federation in the U.S.[41]
In 2003, the AFL-CIO began an intense internal debate over the future of the labor movement in the United States with the creation of theNew Unity Partnership (NUP), a loose coalition of some of the AFL-CIO's largest unions. This debate intensified in 2004, after the defeat of labor-backed candidateJohn Kerry in theNovember 2004 US presidential election. The NUP's program for reform of the federation included reduction of the central bureaucracy, more money spent on organizing new members rather than on electoral politics, and a restructuring of unions and locals, eliminating some smaller locals and focusing more along the lines ofindustrial unionism.
In 2005, the NUP dissolved and theChange to Win Federation (CtW) formed, threatening to secede from the AFL-CIO if its demands for major reorganization were not met. As the AFL-CIO prepared for its 50th anniversary convention in late July, three of the federations' four largest unions announced their withdrawal from the federation: theService Employees International Union (SEIU), theInternational Brotherhood of Teamsters ("The Teamsters"),[42] and theUnited Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW).[43]UNITE HERE disaffiliated in mid-September 2005,[44] theUnited Farm Workers left in January 2006,[45] and the Laborers' International Union of North America disaffiliated on June 1, 2006.[46]
Two unions later left CtW and rejoined the AFL-CIO. After a bitter internal leadership dispute that involved allegations of embezzlement and accusations that SEIU was attempting to raid the union,[47] a substantial number of UNITE HERE members formed their own union (Workers United) while the remainder of UNITE HERE reaffiliated with the AFL-CIO on September 17, 2009.[48] TheLaborers' International Union of North America said on August 13, 2010, that it would also leave Change to Win and rejoin the AFL-CIO in October 2010.[49] TheService Employees International Union (SEIU) also rejoined the AFL-CIO in January 2025.
In August 2013, theInternational Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) disaffiliated from the AFL-CIO. The ILWU said that members of other AFL-CIO unions were crossing its picket lines, and the AFL-CIO had done nothing to stop it. The ILWU also cited the AFL-CIO's willingness to compromise on key policies such as labor law reform, immigration reform, and health care reform. The longshoremen's union said it would become an independent union.[50]
In 2024, AFL-CIO voiced its opposition to an investor-led plan atNorfolk Southern Railway to replace the company's top management and several board members. Organized labor is divided on the issue, which is the major sticking point of a proxy battle between NS management and investors ahead of a May 9, 2024 shareholder meeting. AFL-CIO came out and voiced its support for Norfolk's CEOAlan Shaw, citing concerns about safety, service, and job losses. The union criticized the proposal to replace Shaw and implement a system known asprecision railroading.[51]
The Bal Harbour meeting dates to 1951, before the American Federation of Labor merged with the Congress of Industrial Organizations.
In of the book's most memorable scenes, Staley workers made a pilgrimage to AFL–CIO executive council meetings in Bal Harbour, Florida in February 1995, confronting stunned national leaders inside the luxurious Sheraton Hotel.
Renegade strikers at a Minnesota Hormel plant were refused entrance to an AFL–CIO Executive Council meeting Wednesday and they accused President Lane Kirkland and other labor leaders of being 'out of touch' with workers.
Top leaders of the AFL–CIO will meet for nearly a week at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles beginning Sunday, February 16th – the first time in more than 30 years that the winter executive council meeting has not been held in the resort town of Bal Harbour, Florida.
The decision to return to Bal Harbor, where room rates for the meeting start at $225 a night, was made a few years ago to avoid losing deposit money, Sweeney said.
The cyberintruders also infiltrated the networks of the United Nations, the A.F.L.-C.I.O., and ministries of foreign affairs and finance worldwide. The hack of the A.F.L.-C.I.O. focused on issues surrounding the negotiations over the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade deal that excluded Beijing.
But the well-entrenched bureaucrats of the AFL had long used racism to keep strict control over their membership, and could not countenance the threat of a racially united rank and file.
He optimistically projected a coalition in which registered blacks and organized labor would vote together to improve the conditions of all Americans. Yet King did not shirk from condemning union racism, nor did Randolph and the NAACP, leading to open conflict with AFL–CIO president George Meany.
King's antiwar position opened a huge gap between him and the AFL–CIO, its member unions, and its president, George Meany, who strongly supported the war.
In 2013, the AFL-CIO named theUniversity of Maryland Libraries as theirofficial repository, succeeding the closedNational Labor College. The archival and library holdings were transferred in 2013, dating from the establishment of the AFL (1881), and offer almost complete records from the founding of the AFL-CIO (1955). Among the estimated 40 million documents are AFL-CIO Department records, trade department records, international union records, union programs, union organizations with allied or affiliate relationships with the AFL-CIO, and personal papers of union leaders. Extensive photo documentation of labor union activities from the 1940s to the present are in the photographic negative and digital collections. Additionally, collections of graphic images, over 10,000 audio tapes, several hundred films and videotapes, and over 2,000 artifacts are available for public research and study.[1]
References
