AFL-CIO
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The American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) is the US's largest labor union federation.
Socialist takeover
Circa 1994, AFSCME president Gerald McEntee approached the AFL-CIO with his idea for Project '95, a coalition effort aimed at retaking the House, for the Democratic Party, but AFL-CIO President Lane Kirkland demurred. With that, McEntee and fellow Democratic Socialists of America supporter John Sweeney began canvassing their colleagues about Kirkland's removal. In short order, they amassed support from a coalition that included not just the core of the old CIO (the Auto Workers, Steelworkers, Mine Workers), but the Machinists, Ron Carey's new-model Teamsters, the Carpenters and the Laborers.
What began as dissatisfaction among top labor leaders with the Big Sleep of the Kirkland era evolved in the course of the year to the most profound move to the left since the founding of the CIO. Sweeney formally joined DSA and assumed the presidency of the U.S.s largest labor federation.[1]
"Progressive coalition"
According to Democratic Socialists of America member and journalist Harold Meyerson, the "progressive coalition" of labor unionists which ousted conservative AFL-CIO president Lane Kirkland in 1994-95 and replaced him with DSA member John Sweeney was led by Gerald McEntee, John Sweeney, Richard Trumka, and George Kourpias (all identified DSA affiliates). The coalition selected Trumka as Sweeney's running mate against Kirkland.[2]
Influence of Democratic Socialists of America
The editor of DSA's Democratic Left assured a reader in the Spring/Summer 2000 edition;[3]
- And there’s good news: More DSA members and alumni of DSA’s Youth Section are moving up through the administrative and organizing reaches of AFL-CIO international unions, and global labor solidarity groups, than ever in recent memory.
Political influence
In an essay in Democratic Left Spring/Summer 2000[4], then DSA vice-chair Harold Meyerson wrote;
- The differences here are magnified because the strategic importance of unions in American politics has increased almost exponentially since John Sweeney took the helm at the AFL-CIO in 1995. It’s the unions that have brought the Democrats back to brink of retaking Congressional power;
Personnel
Top National Officers
The following have served as national officers for the AFL-CIO:[5][6]
- Richard Trumka, President (2009 - present)
- John J. Sweeney, President (1995 - 2009) - now serving as President Emeritus
- Arlene Holt Baker, Executive Vice President (2009 - present)
- Linda Chavez-Thompson, Executive Vice President (1995 - 2009) - now serving as Vice President Emerita
- Liz Shuler, Secretary-Treasurer (2009 - present)
Executive Council Members
The following have served as Executive Council Members for the AFL-CIO:[7]
- James Andrews, NC State AFL-CIO
- Mark Ayers, Building and Construction Trades Department
- James Boland, Bricklayers
- R. Thomas Buffenbarger, Machinists
- William Burrus, Postal Workers
- Larry Cohen, Communications Workers of America
- Rose Ann DeMoro, National Nurses United
- Maria Elena Durazo, LA County AFL-CIO
- Patrick D. Finley, Plasterers and Cement Masons
- Rogelio Flores (Roy), AFGE
- Patricia Friend, Flight Attendants-CWA
- Malcolm B. Futhey Jr., United Transportation Union
- John Gage, AFGE
- Warren George, Amalgamated Transit Union
- Leo W. Gerard, United Steelworkers
- Vincent Giblin, Operating Engineers
- Michael Goodwin, Office and Professional Employees
- Edwin D. Hill, Electrical Workers
- William Hite, Plumbers and Pipe Fitters
- General Holiefield, UAW
- Ken Howard, Screen Actors
- Richard Hughes, Longshoremen
- Joseph J. Hunt, Ironworkers
- Frank Hurt, Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers
- Newton B. Jones, Boilermakers
- Gregory Junemann, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers
- Bob King, UAW
- D. Michael Langford, Utility Workers
- James Little, Transport Workers
- Matthew Loeb, Theatrical Stage Employees
- William Lucy, AFSCME
- Robert McEllrath, International Longshore and Warehouse Union
- Gerald W. McEntee, AFSCME
- Terence M. O'Sullivan, LIUNA
- Capt. John Prater, Air Line Pilots
- Roberta Reardon, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists
- Fred Redmond, United Steelworkers
- Laura Rico, AFT
- Clyde Rivers, California School Employees Association
- Cecil Roberts, Mine Workers
- Fredric Rolando, Letter Carriers
- Michael Sacco, Seafarers
- Lee Saunders, AFSCME
- Robert A. Scardelletti, Transportation Communications Union
- Harold A. Schaitberger, Fire Fighters
- Bruce Smith, Glass, Molders, Pottery, Plastics and Allied Workers
- DeMaurice Smith, Professional Athletes
- Robbie Sparks, IBEW
- Michael J. Sullivan, Sheet Metal Workers
- Baldemar Velasquez, Farm Labor Organizing Committee
- Randi Weingarten, AFT
- John Wilhelm, UNITEHERE!
- James Williams, Painters and Allied Trades
- Nancy Wohlforth, OPEIU
- Diann Woodard, School Administrators
Special Committee on Diversity
As at August, 2007, the following worked for the Committee:[8]
Committee Members
- Nat LaCour (co-chair)
- Elizabeth Bunn (co-chair)
- Linda Chavez-Thompson
- Patricia Friend
- Leo Gerard
- Edwin Hill
- William Lucy
- Gene Upshaw
Committee Staff
Affiliated Unions
The following are unions affiliated with the AFL-CIO:[9]
- Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA)
- Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU)
- American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE)
- American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada (AFM)
- American Federation of School Administrators (AFSA)
- American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME)
- American Federation of Teachers (AFT)
- American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA)
- American Postal Workers Union (APWU)
- American Radio Association (ARA)
- American Train Dispatchers Association (ATDA)
- Associated Actors and Artistes of America (4As)
- Actors' Equity Association (AEA)
- American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA)
- American Guild of Variety Artists (AGVA)
- Screen Actors Guild (SAG)
- The Guild of Italian American Actors (GIAA)
- Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM)
- Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen (BRS)
- California School Employees Association (CSEA)
- Communications Workers of America (CWA)
- Association of Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA)
- Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC)
- Federation of Professional Athletes (Professional Athletes)
- Glass, Molders, Pottery, Plastics and Allied Workers International Union (GMP)
- International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employes, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States, Its Territories and Canada (IATSE)
- International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers (Ironworkers)
- International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF)
- International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers
- International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM)
- International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers and Helpers (IBB)
- International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW)
- International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE)
- International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU)
- International Longshoremen's Association (ILA)
- International Plate Printers, Die Stampers and Engravers Union of North America
- International Union of Allied Novelty and Production Workers (Novelty and Production Workers)
- International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers (BAC)
- International Union of Elevator Constructors (IUEC)
- International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE)
- International Union of Painters and Allied Trades of the United States and Canada (IUPAT)
- International Union of Police Associations (IUPA)
- Marine Engineers' Beneficial Association (MEBA)
- Professional Aviation Safety Specialists (PASS)
- National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA)
- National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC)
- National Nurses United (NNU)
- National Postal Mail Handlers Union (NPMHU)
- Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU)
- Operative Plasterers' and Cement Masons' International Association of the United States and Canada (OPCMIA)
- Seafarers International Union of North America (SIU)
- Sheet Metal Workers International Association (SMWIA)
- Transport Workers Union of America (TWU)
- Transportation Communications International Union/IAM (TCU/IAM)
- UNITE HERE!
- United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry of the United States and Canada (UA)
- United Automobile, Aerospace & Agricultural Implement Workers of America International Union (UAW)
- United Mine Workers of America (UMWA)
- United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial & Service Workers International Union (USW)
- United Transportation Union (UTU)
- United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers (Roofers and Waterproofers)
- Utility Workers Union of America (UWUA)
- Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE)
References
- ↑ Dem. Left, July/August 1995, page 22
- ↑ Dem. Left, Sept./Oct. 1995, page 8
- ↑ http://www.dsausa.org/dl/sum2kindex.html
- ↑ http://www.dsausa.org/dl/sum2kindex.html
- ↑ AFL-CIO website: AFL-CIO Officers Emeritus (accessed on Oct. 7, 2010)
- ↑ AFL-CIO website: AFL-CIO Top National Officers (accessed on Oct. 7, 2010)
- ↑ AFL-CIO website: Executive Council Members (accessed on Oct. 7, 2010)
- ↑ AFL-CIO website: Power in Diversity, Report of the Special Committee on Diversity, August 2007 (accessed on Oct. 7, 2010)
- ↑ AFL-CIO website: Affiliated Unions
