> The American Federation of Labor and [[Congress of Industrial Organizations]] (AFL–CIO) is the largest federation of unions in the United States. It is made up of 60 national and international unions, together representing more than 12 million active and retired workers. The AFL–CIO engages in substantial political spending and activism, typically in support of progressive and pro-labor policies. The AFL–CIO was formed in 1955 when the American Federation of Labor and the [[Congress of Industrial Organizations]] merged after a long estrangement. Union membership in the US peaked in 1979, when the AFL–CIO's affiliated unions had nearly twenty million members. From 1955 until 2005, the AFL–CIO's member unions represented nearly all unionized workers in the United States. Several large unions split away from AFL–CIO and formed the rival Change to Win Federation in 2005, although a number of those unions have since re-affiliated, and many locals of Change to Win are either part of or work with their local central labor councils. The largest unions currently in the AFL–CIO are the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) with approximately 1.7 million members, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), with approximately 1.4 million members, and United Food and Commercial Workers with 1.2 million members. > > [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AFL%E2%80%93CIO) ## InfluenceWatch Profile [Source](https://www.influencewatch.org/labor-union/afl-cio/) The American Federation of Labor-[[Congress of Industrial Organizations]] (AFL-CIO) is the largest federation of labor unions in the United States. Formed in 1955 in a merger between the American Federation of Labor and the [[Congress of Industrial Organizations]], the AFL-CIO boasts membership of over 9 million voting members and 3 million associate members. While the AFL-CIO retains a large member base, the proportion of the workforce that is organized by labor unions has declined substantially since the 1960s. [Source]([[50 Years Of Shrinking Union Membership, In One Map]]) Since 2021, [[Liz Shuler]] has led the AFL-CIO; she succeeded controversial late president [[Richard Trumka]] after Trumka died in office. While the union federation has generally supported Democrats and liberal candidates, it was once far more centrist than it has been since an internal power struggle in the mid-1990s. Under former presidents [[Index 📚/Person/George Meany]] and [[Lane Kirkland]], the AFL-CIO was staunchly anti-Communist, going so far as to refuse to endorse Democratic presidential candidate Sen. [[Index 📚/Person/George McGovern]] in 1972 over McGovern’s opposition to the Vietnam War. Under Kirkland’s successor [[John Sweeney]] and through Trumka’s terms in office, the union has aligned much more closely with the [[Democratic Party]] and the organizational left. After Sweeney took over as the union’s president with Trumka as his chief lieutenant, the AFL-CIO increased its support for liberal politicians and progressive causes, including those unrelated to the economy and collective bargaining. [Source]([[From Meany to Sweeney - Labor's Leftward Tilt]]). This trend only accelerated under [[Richard Trumka]]’s leadership. In the AFL-CIO’s 2016 fiscal year, the union reported $45,972,521 in political activities and lobbying (including $8,165,576 in deposits of employee-elected contributions to the union’s political action committee). Recipients of AFL-CIO dues-funded contributions include the Center for American Progress (CAP) Action Fund, the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), and the New World Foundation. The federation has also proposed admitting progressive groups other than unions, including the NAACP, the Sierra Club, and MomsRising, to its membership as either formal partners or affiliates. In 2021, Trumka died in office and was replaced as president by the federation’s secretary-treasurer [[Liz Shuler]]. Source: [[A.F.L.-C.I.O. Has Plan to Add Millions of Nonunion Members]]