American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) is a federation of labor unions. The AFL-CIO consists of many national and international craft and industrial unions that together have millions of members. The national unions are self-governing, but cooperate with one another within the federation. Each national union has local unions in the United States and its territories. The international unions also have local unions in Canada and in Puerto Rico, Panama, and other Caribbean lands. Altogether, the national and international labor unions have tens of thousands of local unions. AFL-CIO headquarters are in Washington, D.C.
Organization.
All the affiliated unions are represented at the AFL-CIO’s conventions, held every two years. The convention is the supreme governing body. It elects the president, the secretary-treasurer, the executive vice president and a number of vice presidents who make up the executive council. The council determines AFL-CIO policy between conventions and carries out policies established by the convention. The AFL-CIO has central bodies (federations) in all 50 states and Puerto Rico, and hundreds of local central bodies. It also has a number of directly affiliated local unions.
Six trade and industrial departments are affiliated with the AFL-CIO. These departments are the Building and Construction Trades, Metal Trades, Union Label and Service Trades, Maritime Trades, Professional Employees, and Transportation Trades departments. The national and international unions affiliate with the department or departments that represent their interests.
The AFL-CIO has a number of committees and departments. These groups deal with such matters as organizing, legislation, civil rights, ethical practices, international affairs, education, economic policy, community services, and occupational safety and health.
Activities of the AFL-CIO include working with unions to increase their membership, informing union members about legislative and political matters, providing legal assistance, and representing the interests of workers’ families. In the legislative field, the AFL-CIO works for enactment of desired legislation on national and state levels. The organization promotes the activity of union members in such projects as campaigns for voter registration and for improvements in education and training. It also works to resolve certain types of disputes among its member unions.
History.
In 1881, in Pittsburgh, a group of trade unionists representing about 50,000 members founded the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions of the United States and Canada. In 1886, the group reorganized, changing its name to the American Federation of Labor. Its approach was to organize workers by crafts and skills. In 1935, eight leaders of AFL unions set up the Committee for Industrial Organization to carry on an organizing drive in mass-production industries. The CIO tried to sign up all workers in a plant, unskilled as well as skilled. Because of a disagreement over this type of organizing, the AFL suspended 10 national unions participating in the CIO in 1936. The CIO then formed its own labor federation in 1938, and changed its name to the Congress of Industrial Organizations. The AFL and the CIO formally merged in 1955.
In 1957, the Teamsters Union, then the largest union in the United States, was expelled from the AFL-CIO after its leaders were accused of unethical practices. The Teamsters rejoined in 1987. Another of the country’s largest unions, the United Automobile Workers, disaffiliated in 1968 but rejoined in 1981.
In 2001, the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America (UBC) ended its affiliation with the AFL-CIO. In 2005, five other large unions—the Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA), the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the Teamsters Union, UNITE HERE, and the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW)—joined with the UBC and the United Farm Workers of America (UFW) to found a new labor alliance called the Change to Win Coalition. Later in 2005, the SEIU, the Teamsters, the UFCW, and UNITE HERE withdrew from the AFL-CIO. In 2006, LIUNA and the UFW left the AFL-CIO. The move reflected a desire on the part of some unions to have more of the dues money paid to the AFL-CIO spent on labor organizing rather than on political contributions. The loss of these unions meant a serious reduction in funding for the AFL-CIO. Some of those breakaway unions later rejoined the AFL-CIO.
