Billy Clyde Puckett
07-29-2005, 01:31 PM
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=530&e=5&u=/ap/20050729/ap_on_bi_ge/labor_rift
By WILL LESTER, Associated Press Writer
Fri Jul 29, 1:12 PM ET
WASHINGTON - The United Food and Commercial Workers, with almost 1.4 million members, will join the Teamsters and the service workers in bolting the AFL-CIO, union leaders said Friday.
The departure of the UFCW from the labor federation means the AFL-CIO is losing at least three of it biggest unions, with more than 4 million of its 13 million members and almost $28 million of an estimated $120 million budget.
"The world has changed and workers' rights and living standards are under attack. Tradition and past success are not sufficient to meet the new challenges," UFCW President Joe Hansen said in a letter delivered to federation President John Sweeney.
Earlier this week, the 1.4-million-member UFCW joined the Teamsters, Service Employees International Union and Unite Here, a group of textile, restaurant and hotel employees, in boycotting the AFL-CIO convention. The Teamsters and service workers announced at the time they were leaving the AFL-CIO. Unite Here is still considering its next step.
The unions breaking away from the AFL-CIO want to commit more money to recruiting new union members and complain the federation has committed too much money and placed too much emphasis on backing political candidates — particularly Democrats.
The departure is part of the biggest rift in organized labor since 1938, when the CIO split from the AFL. Supporters of the breakup note that labor made big gains while the two groups competed.
One of every three private-sector workers belonged to a labor group when the AFL-CIO merged in the 1950s. Now, less than 8 percent of private-sector workers are unionized.
By WILL LESTER, Associated Press Writer
Fri Jul 29, 1:12 PM ET
WASHINGTON - The United Food and Commercial Workers, with almost 1.4 million members, will join the Teamsters and the service workers in bolting the AFL-CIO, union leaders said Friday.
The departure of the UFCW from the labor federation means the AFL-CIO is losing at least three of it biggest unions, with more than 4 million of its 13 million members and almost $28 million of an estimated $120 million budget.
"The world has changed and workers' rights and living standards are under attack. Tradition and past success are not sufficient to meet the new challenges," UFCW President Joe Hansen said in a letter delivered to federation President John Sweeney.
Earlier this week, the 1.4-million-member UFCW joined the Teamsters, Service Employees International Union and Unite Here, a group of textile, restaurant and hotel employees, in boycotting the AFL-CIO convention. The Teamsters and service workers announced at the time they were leaving the AFL-CIO. Unite Here is still considering its next step.
The unions breaking away from the AFL-CIO want to commit more money to recruiting new union members and complain the federation has committed too much money and placed too much emphasis on backing political candidates — particularly Democrats.
The departure is part of the biggest rift in organized labor since 1938, when the CIO split from the AFL. Supporters of the breakup note that labor made big gains while the two groups competed.
One of every three private-sector workers belonged to a labor group when the AFL-CIO merged in the 1950s. Now, less than 8 percent of private-sector workers are unionized.