The news that the Teamsters and six other unions had pulled out almost four million members from the national AFL-CIO during the Federation’s 25th Constitutional Convention in Chicago, July 25-28, stunned many in the labor and political communities.

For days after Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa and SEIU President Andrew Stern announced on July 25 that they and five other unions had formed a new organization, the “Change to Win” coalition, that would “chart a course of growth and strength in an energized effort to rebuild the American labor movement,” state and local unions fretted over how the disaffiliation would impact their close working relationship with each other.

Visit the Change To Win Coalition website.

New York State AFL-CIO President Denis Hughes and New York Central Labor Council President Brian McLaughlin considered the widely publicized disagreement that led to the split as “a national fight” that had nothing to do with the local affiliates. McLaughlin added that he expects all New York City unions to march in the city’s Labor Day Parade, whether affiliated with the AFL-CIO or not.

Read the July 25th Statement by IBT President Hoffa.

Several labor leaders within the AFL-CIO disagreed with the Federation’s allocation of resources, including Teamsters’ President Hoffa and SEIU’s Stern, who called for devoting more money to organizing new members to grow the organization rather than spending large sums on supporting politicians. Both the Teamsters and SEIU said they would leave the organization if the issue could not be resolved.

“It is a fact that the labor movement is hemorrhaging membership because of privatization,” said Local 237 President Carl Haynes. “American jobs are going to foreign workers overseas and we have a depressed economy. Labor has been taking a pounding at the bargaining table and in Washington because our numbers have been dwindling over the years. That’s why in New York the unions work closely together and rally together in support of each other’s issues and problems.”

On the opening day of the convention, which marked the 50th anniversary of the merging of the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations, and with no solution on the table to discuss, Teamsters President Hoffa sent a letter to AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, July 25, informing him of the union’s decision to disaffiliate: “We have reached this decision as a matter of principle. Our differences are not about words, but are deep and fundamental. They concern the future of the labor movement in this country,” he wrote.

“This is a positive step for working men and women and their families. We must revitalize the labor movement and reverse the continuing decline in union membership. We must reallocate every possible resource to increased organizing. And we must protect the wages, benefits and standards established by responsible unions through years of hard work and effort. Unfortunately, the Federation has refused to embrace the progressive measures that we believe are necessary to accomplish these goals.”

To calm fears among union members that the disaffiliation would weaken Labor as a strong voice against anti-labor forces, President Hoffa vowed to remain “committed to cooperating with the Federation and its affiliates on organizing, political, legislative and other actions and issues that vitally affect workers and their families. Our local unions will continue to support and participate in state and local central labor bodies. We will not allow our differences with the AFL-CIO to affect our fundamental commitment to trade unionism and working people. We hope that you and the other officers and affiliates of the AFL-CIO will join with us in this pledge to cooperate and coordinate our actions in the best interests of working men and women.”

The AFL-CIO has also agreed to allow state and local affiliates to maintain their relationship with disaffiliated unions through the creation of a “solidarity charter,” which AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, in a New York Times article, is quoted as saying “will allow unions to work together and let working people still benefit from a united grass-roots movement.”

The new coalition of unions represented by “Change to Win” include: IBT, SEIU, United Food and Commercial Workers, the Laborers’ International Union of North America, UNITE HERE, United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, and the United Farm Workers of America. Together, the coalition represents 7 million members.

The “Change to Win” coalition, Hoffa added, is intended “to organize the unorganized and to create real power for the working families of America.” The coalition has already set in motion plans to build large-scale strategic organizing campaigns. “We must have more union members in this country to fight the political and business forces that are undermining workers,” Hoffa said. “The AFL-CIO has chosen the opposite approach by plans to throw even more money at politicians.”