A two-decade old rupture in the American labour movement was partially healed in the first week of the new year, as the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) announced its reaffiliation with the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), the national umbrella organization of American unions it left in 2005.
As American workers brace for a second Trump presidency, leaders of both bodies celebrated the new heft the reunion gave organized labour facing an uncertain four years under a president who has often been notably anti-union and a billionaire co-president, Elon Musk, known for his attacks on workers and his fondness for disinformation. And all of this will be worked out against a backdrop of union density that has been driven down by employer friendly changes in labour law and an unceasing drumbeat of anti-union propaganda over decades.
“Workers know it’s better in a union, and together we are stronger in our organizing and bargaining fights because there is power in unity,” said AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler. “CEOs and billionaires want nothing more than to see workers divided, but we’re standing here today with greater solidarity than ever to reach the 60 million Americans who say they’d join a union tomorrow if the laws allowed and to unrig our labor laws to guarantee every worker in America the basic right to organize on the job.”
The hopeful claim that 60 million US workers would join a union
if the impediments created by anti-union laws were removed is drawn from research done recently by the Economic Policy Institute.
In addition to the 60 million potential members claim, the same research revealed other findings that support the hopeful tone surrounding the SEIU/AFL-CIO merger. They include:
- In 2023, 16.2 million workers were represented by a union—an increase of 191,000. At the same time, the percentage of workers represented by a union decreased from 11.3 per cent to 11.2 per cent, as unionization efforts were unable to keep pace with 2023’s strong job growth.
- By sector, private-sector unionization rose to 6.9 per cent in 2023, while public-sector unionization declined to 36.0 per cent.
- Unionization among workers of color accounted for the entire increase in the union level in 2023, and Black workers had the highest unionization rate at 13.1 per cent.
- Unionization among workers younger than 45 grew by 229,000 in 2023, while unionization declined by 38,000 among workers age 45 and over.
Recent valiant organizing drives among Amazon and Starbucks workers may have been on the minds of the AFL-CIO and SEIU leaders as they commented on their merger. For example, SEIU International President April Verrett said:
“SEIU members are ready to unleash a new era of worker power, as millions of service and care workers unite with workers at the AFL-CIO to build our unions in every industry and every ZIP code. Working people have been organizing our workplaces and communities to build a stronger economy and democracy. We are ready to stand up to union-busters at corporations and in government and rewrite the outdated, sexist, racist labor laws that hold us all back. We’re so proud to join together as nearly 15 million members to redouble our commitment to building a thriving, healthy future for working people.”
Despite the bleeding-off of some working class votes to the Republicans in the last election and the business class party’s (patently insincere) expressions of occasional support for working people, workers in the US are sure to face new attacks on their hard-won rights. They’ll need all the solidarity and unity they can muster to survive the reign of the Orange Julius Ceasar and his billionaire bro accomplices.
This is not the first time that the AFL-CIO has been at the centre of dramatic changes in the structure of the American union movement. In the worst of the Great Depression, some workers, dissatisfied with the narrow single-trade guild approach of the AFL as it failed to meet the challenges of the times, created the CIO, a union movement animated by a vision of building big, diverse, inclusive unions that organized everyone in the plant or factory, not just single craft groups.
This kicked off a heroic period of organizing and militant tactics like the auto factory occupations at Flint and River Rouge.
The CIO rejoined the AFL in 1955. It is tempting to view the history of labour as a dialectic between grassroots militance and opportunistic maneuvers by union bureaucrats squabbling over existing membership and pension funds. The Game of Thrones saga of splits and reunions told in any account of the AFL-CIO often supports that version. Only time will tell which side of the dialectical tug of war will be stronger in the context of Trump II, but the larger, stronger union movement in the US created by the SEIU/AFL-CIO reunion can’t hurt.
As Canadian workers face a likely Pierre Poilievre Conservative win in the impending post-Trudeau election, we will, like American workers, have to contend with a governing party that is fundamentally hostile to workers’ rights but pretends the opposite. Poilievre’s history of anti-union positions and his party’s endorsement of “right to work” legislation modeled on the worst examples south of the border give reason for skepticism about any claims that Conservatives in any meaningful way are pro-labour, and for heightened resistance. Meanwhile, recent Canadian research shows impressive levels of pro-union attitudes. /Despite polls showing bafflingly high levels of support for Poilievre. One thing is clear. Workers and their allies in Canada need to attend closely to what is happening south of the border, and watch for lessons that apply to our situation, and for opportunities for practical solidarity. As workers, we are all in the same boat, and that boat is taking on water. We need to row harder and smarter.
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Nick Seebruch, editor
