The Los Angeles Times reported that the International Brotherhood of Teamsters has joined a coalition of dissident labor unions critical of the AFL-CIO leadership.
The presidents of five major national unions representing about a third of U.S. union members have formed a coalition to reinvigorate the labor movement through a series of aggressive, coordinated organizing campaigns.
The move was seen by some as a step toward splitting the 50-year-old AFL-CIO, a federation of 57 national unions that has been losing membership and power for decades. Some union leaders have openly discussed leaving the larger body, complaining that its leadership is stodgy and defeatist. The new group is called Change to Win Coalition.
Other coalition members include the Service Employees International Union, the United Food and Commercial Workers and the Laborers' International Union of North America. The group represents 5 million workers, about 35% of the AFL-CIO.
AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney, who has been trying to hold the national federation together through months of acrimonious debate, urged members of the new group not to leave.
Members of the new group said they would stay in the AFL-CIO at least until late July, when delegates from all affiliated unions will meet in Chicago to vote for leaders and bylaws. Sweeney is expected to win a third term, despite pressure from the dissident unions for new leadership.
The five unions in Change to Win will ask the convention to revise the AFL-CIO constitution to force all affiliated unions to meet certain standards on organizing. But the odds of passing such reforms are slim, the union leaders acknowledged. Several hinted that they might leave the federation at that point.
Apart from whatever happens with the AFL-CIO, Lichtenstein said the new coalition's success would depend largely on whether its message captures the imagination of workers outside the small and steadily shrinking labor movement. Unions represent about 12% of all workers, and less than 8% of those in the private sector, compared with more than one-third of the workforce 50 years ago.
The presidents of five major national unions representing about a third of U.S. union members have formed a coalition to reinvigorate the labor movement through a series of aggressive, coordinated organizing campaigns.
The move was seen by some as a step toward splitting the 50-year-old AFL-CIO, a federation of 57 national unions that has been losing membership and power for decades. Some union leaders have openly discussed leaving the larger body, complaining that its leadership is stodgy and defeatist. The new group is called Change to Win Coalition.
Other coalition members include the Service Employees International Union, the United Food and Commercial Workers and the Laborers' International Union of North America. The group represents 5 million workers, about 35% of the AFL-CIO.
AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney, who has been trying to hold the national federation together through months of acrimonious debate, urged members of the new group not to leave.
Members of the new group said they would stay in the AFL-CIO at least until late July, when delegates from all affiliated unions will meet in Chicago to vote for leaders and bylaws. Sweeney is expected to win a third term, despite pressure from the dissident unions for new leadership.
The five unions in Change to Win will ask the convention to revise the AFL-CIO constitution to force all affiliated unions to meet certain standards on organizing. But the odds of passing such reforms are slim, the union leaders acknowledged. Several hinted that they might leave the federation at that point.
Apart from whatever happens with the AFL-CIO, Lichtenstein said the new coalition's success would depend largely on whether its message captures the imagination of workers outside the small and steadily shrinking labor movement. Unions represent about 12% of all workers, and less than 8% of those in the private sector, compared with more than one-third of the workforce 50 years ago.
media brand
0 Comments
See all comments