1980s AFL CIO Justice POLITICAL Pinback PIN Button BADGE Trade UNION Labor

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POLITICAL PINBACK
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The
American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations
(
AFL–CIO
) is a
national trade union center
and the largest
federation
of
unions
in the
United States
. It is made up of fifty-six national and international unions,
[3]
together representing more than 12 million active and retired workers.
[1]
The AFL–CIO engages in substantial political spending and activism.
[3]
The AFL–CIO was formed in 1955 when the
AFL
and the
CIO
merged after a long estrangement. Membership in the union peaked in 1979, when the AFL–CIO 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 rival
Change to Win Federation
in 2005, although a number of those unions have since re-affiliated. The largest union currently in the AFL–CIO is the
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
(AFSCME), with approximately 1.4 million members.
[5]
Membership
[
edit
]
Total membership (US records; ×1000)
[6]
Finances (US records; ×00)
[6]
Assets
Liabilities
Receipts
Disbursements
Main article:
List of unions affiliated with the AFL–CIO
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
[7]
and enforce resolution of disagreements over jurisdiction or organizing). As of June 2014, the AFL–CIO had 56 member unions representing 12.5 million members.
[3]
Political activities
[
edit
]
The AFL–CIO was a major component of the
New Deal Coalition
that dominated politics into the mid-1960s.
[8]
Although it has lost membership, finances, and political clout since 1970, it remains a major player on the 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.
[9]
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 Trumka 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.
[10]
[11]
The AFL–CIO gave ,123,437 to super
PACs
in 2012, including .95 million to the AFL–CIO's own super PAC.
[12]
In June 2016, it was reported that the AFL–CIO planned to endorse
Hillary Clinton
in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
[13]
Governance
[
edit
]
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.
[14]
Executive council
The AFL–CIO has three executive officers: president, secretary-treasurer and executive vice president. Each officer's term is four years, and elections occur at the quadrennial convention.
[15]
Current officers are
Richard Trumka
(President),
Liz Shuler
(Secretary-Treasurer) and
Tefere Gebre
(Executive Vice-President).
The AFL–CIO membership elects 43 vice presidents at each convention, who have a term of four years. The AFL–CIO constitution permits the president of the federation to appoint up to three additional vice presidents during the period when the convention is not in session.
Annual meetings
From 1951 to 1996, the Executive Council held its winter meeting in the resort town of
Bal Harbour, Florida
.
[16]
The meeting at the Bal Harbour Sheraton has been the object of frequent criticism, including over a labor dispute at the hotel itself.
[17]
[18]
[19]
Citing image concerns, the council changed the meeting site to
Los Angeles
.
[20]
[21]
However, the meeting was moved back to Bal Harbour several years later.
[22]
The 2012 meeting was held in
Orlando, Florida
.
[23]
Executive committee
An executive committee was authorized by constitutional change in 2005. The executive committee is composed of the president, vice presidents from the 10 largest affiliates, and nine other vice presidents chosen in consultation with the executive council. The other two officers are non-voting
ex officio
members. The executive committee governs the AFL–CIO between meetings of the executive council, approves its budget, and issues charters (two duties formerly discharged by the executive council). It is required to meet at least four times a year, and in practice meets on an as-needed basis (which may mean once a month or more).
General Board
The AFL–CIO also has a General Board. Its members are the AFL–CIO executive council, the chief executive officer of each member union, the president of each AFL–CIO constitutional department, and four regional representatives elected by the AFL–CIO's state federations. The General Board's duties are very limited. It only takes up matters referred to it by the executive council, but referrals are rare. However, because of the sensitive nature of political endorsements and the advisability of consensus when making them, the General Board traditionally is the body that provides the AFL–CIO's endorsement of candidates for president and vice president of the United States.
State and local bodies
AFL–CIO headquarters in
Washington, D.C.
Article XIV of the AFL–CIO constitution permits the AFL–CIO to charter and organize state, regional, local and city-wide bodies. They are commonly called "state federations" and "central labor councils" (CLCs), although the names of the various bodies varies widely at the local and regional level. Each body has its own charter, which establishes its jurisdiction, governance structure, mission, and more. Jurisdiction tends to be geo-political: Each state or territory has its own "state federation." In large cities, there is usually a CLC covering the city. Outside large cities, CLCs tend to be regional (to achieve an
economy of scale
in terms of dues, administrative effectiveness, etc.). State federations and CLCs are each entitled to representation and voting rights at the quadrennial convention.
The duties of state federations differ from those of CLCs. State federations tend to focus on state legislative lobbying, statewide economic policy, state elections, and other issues of a more overarching nature. CLCs tend to focus on county or city lobbying, city or county elections, county or city zoning and other economic issues, and more local needs.
Both state federations and CLCs work to mobilize members around organizing campaigns, collective bargaining campaigns, electoral politics, lobbying (most often rallies and demonstrations), strikes, picketing, boycotts, and similar activities.
The AFL–CIO constitution permits international unions to pay state federation and 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.
[24]
Constitutional departments
Throughout its history, the AFL–CIO had a number of constitutionally mandated departments. Initially, the rationale for having them was that affiliates felt that such decisions should not be left to the whims (or political needs) of the president of the federation.
Currently, Art. XII establishes seven departments, but allows the executive council or convention of the AFL–CIO to establish others. Each department is largely autonomous, but its must conform to the AFL–CIO's constitution and policies. Each department has its own constitution, membership, officers, governance structure, dues and organizational structure. Departments may establish state and local bodies. Any member union of the AFL–CIO may join a department, provided it formally affiliates and pays dues. The chief executive officer of each department may sit in on the meetings of the AFL–CIO executive council. Departments have representation and voting rights at the AFl–CIO convention.
One of the most well-known departments was the
Industrial 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, 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 a
de facto
organizing department in the AFL–CIO. For example, it provided money to the near-destitute
American Federation of Teachers
(AFT) as it attempted to organize the
United 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. It proved to be a center of opposition to AFL–CIO president John Sweeney, and was abolished in 1999.
[
citation needed
]
There are six AFL–CIO constitutionally mandated departments:
Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL–CIO
Maritime Trades Department, AFL–CIO
Metal Trades Department, AFL–CIO
Department for Professional Employees, AFL–CIO
Transportation Trades Department, AFL–CIO
Union Label Department, AFL–CIO
Constituency groups
[
edit
]
Constituency groups are
nonprofit
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 the
A. Philip Randolph Institute
, the AFL–CIO Union Veterans Council, the
Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance
, the
Coalition of Black Trade Unionists
, the
Coalition of Labor Union Women
, the
Labor Council for Latin American Advancement
and
Pride at Work
.
Allied organizations
[
edit
]
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.
[25]
The
American Center for International Labor Solidarity
started out as the Free Trade Union Committee (FTUC), which internationally promoted free labor-unions.
[26]
Other organizations that are allied with the AFL–CIO include:
Alliance for Retired Americans
Solidarity Center
American Rights at Work
International Labor Communications Association
Jobs with Justice
Labor Heritage Foundation
Labor and Working-Class History Association
National Day Laborer Organizing Network
United Students Against Sweatshops
Working America
Working for America Institute
Ohio Organizing Collaborative
Programs
[
edit
]
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, the
AFL–CIO Employees Federal Credit Union
, the AFL–CIO Housing Investment Trust, the
National Labor College
and Union Privilege.
International policy
[
edit
]
The AFL–CIO is affiliated to the Brussels-based
International Trade Union Confederation
, formed November 1, 2006. The new body incorporated the member organizations of the
International 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 the
Cold War
it vigorously opposed Communist unions in Latin America and Europe. In opposing Communism it helped split the CGT in France and helped create the anti-Communist Force Ouvriere.
[27]
History
[
edit
]
For the history of the AFL–CIO prior to and including the merger see
American Federation of Labor
and
Congress of Industrial Organizations
and
Labor unions in the United States
.
Civil rights
[
edit
]
AFL–CIO headquarters in Washington, D.C.
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, blacks would also criticize the CIO for abandoning their interests, particularly after the merger with the AFL.
[31]
In 1961, Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
, gave a speech titled "If the Negro Wins, Labor Wins" to the organization's convention in
Bal Harbour, Florida
. King hoped for a coalition between civil rights and labor that would improve the situation for the entire working class by ending white supremacy. However, King also criticized the AFL–CIO for its tolerance of unions that excluded black workers.
[32]
King and the AFL–CIO diverged further in 1967, when King announced his opposition to the
Vietnam War
, which the AFL–CIO strongly supported.
[33]
The AFL–CIO endorsed the
Civil Rights Act of 1964
.
[34]
New Unity Partnership
[
edit
]
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 the
New 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 candidate
John Kerry
in the
November 2004 U.S. 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 of
industrial unionism
.
In 2005, the NUP dissolved and the
Change 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: the
Service Employees International Union
(SEIU), the
International Brotherhood of Teamsters
("The Teamsters"),
[35]
and the
United Food and Commercial Workers International Union
(UFCW).
[36]
UNITE HERE
disaffiliated in mid-September 2005,
[37]
the
United Farm Workers
left in January 2006,
[38]
and the Laborers' International Union of North America disaffiliated on June 1, 2006.
[39]
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,
[40]
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.
[41]
The
Laborers' 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.
[42]
ILWU disaffiliation
[
edit
]
In August 2013, the
International 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.
[43]
Presidents
[
edit
]
George Meany
(1955–1979)
Lane Kirkland
(1979–1995)
Thomas R. Donahue
(1995)
John J. Sweeney
(1995–2009)
Richard Trumka
(2009- )
See also
[
edit
]
Change to Win Federation
Directly Affiliated Local Union (DALU)
Labor federation competition in the U.S.
Labor movement
Labor unions in the United States
List of unions affiliated with the AFL–CIO
List of U.S. trade unions
Union organizer
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