Some big news in the labor movement: UNITE HERE, one of the six unions that split from the AFL-CIO in 2005 to form the competing federation Change to Win, has rejoined the AFL-CIO on the closing day of the latter's convention in Pittsburgh.
The 2005 split meant a schism in the labor movement, creating two massive federations in the AFL-CIO and the newfangled, organizing-driven Change to Win, under the charismatic guidance of Service Employees International Union President Andy Stern. That meant two competing power structures, both seeking to organize workers and throw their political weight behind Democratic candidates.
Until today, Change to Win was comprised of the International
Brotherhood of Teamsters, the Laborers' International Union of North
America (LIUNA), SEIU, the United Farm Workers, the United Food and
Commercial Workers, and UNITE HERE. It claimed to represent 6 million
workers, while the AFL-CIO claimed to represent 11.5 million workers.
UNITE HERE represents workers in the in the hospitality, gaming, food
service, manufacturing, textile, laundry, and airport industries. It's
not huge, representing 265,000 workers, but its re-incorporation into
the AFL-CIO is a blow to the Change to Win coalition, nonetheless, and
a feather in the cap of the AFL-CIO, which is under new leadership as
of yesterday, as outgoing President John Sweeney, who led the
federation since 1995, retired, and new President Richard Trumka was
ushered in.
UNITE HERE has had its problems of late, as some talk had swirled
on labor-related blogs that the two merged unions (UNITE and HERE) would split, so the
AFL-CIO's newest family member may not be its happiest. Still, it's a
win for the AFL-CIO, and acrimony over the decision on Change to Win's
part would be unsurprising.
