Editorial: Upheaval at AFL-CIO

Tuesday, July 26, 2005 | 9 a.m.

In a severe disagreement over the future of the labor movement in the United States, two of the three largest unions are ending their ties to the AFL-CIO. The decision by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the Service Employees International Union wasn't too surprising. Along with the two defecting unions, the United Food and Commercial Workers union and United Here, which represents hotel and restaurant workers -- including 50,000 from Culinary Local 226 in Las Vegas -- are boycotting the AFL-CIO's annual meeting in Chicago this week.

The dissatisfied unions believe the AFL-CIO's leadership has focused too much on politics and hasn't spent enough resources on organizing workers. Union membership has dwindled precipitously in the United States. Fifty years ago, when the AFL-CIO was formed, about one in three U.S. workers was a union member. Today, just one in 12 private-sector workers belong to a union. Lack of organizing isn't the entire story, though. Part of the decline of unions is because of the changing nature of the workforce, as many factory jobs -- once a key source for union membership -- have disappeared.

This is a pivotal moment for the labor movement in America, as those unions that have broken away from the AFL-CIO, or are considering doing so, are taking a bold, risky step. The fallout could be felt in politics, too, since the Democratic Party has historically relied upon labor's support at election time and in galvanizing support for legislation in Congress to improve workers' lives.

It was the unions' insistence on minimum wage laws, a ban on child labor and the creation of safe workplace protections that turned these hard-fought battles against corporate opposition into a reality during the 20th century -- protections that many of us take for granted today. We hope that today's schism has a positive side, reinvigorating the unions with the kind of new ideas and strategies that will help revitalize the organized labor movement, which has played such a positive, pivotal role in our nation's history.