AFL-CIO staffers fight back against planned furloughs

Staffers at the AFL-CIO’s Washington, D.C., headquarters are fighting back against management at the massive union as they negotiate a collective bargaining agreement, HuffPost reported Monday.

Hourly employees including secretaries, accountants and janitors have resolved most of their issues in negotiations but are still in dispute over furloughs and whether management should be able to unilaterally impose furloughs, according to HuffPost.

{mosads}Jessica Maiorca, a representative with the Office and Professional Employees International Union Local 2 — a union representing the AFL-CIO employees — called AFL-CIO’s efforts related to furloughs “unprecedented.”

“This is in many ways unprecedented for being in a union contract, much less a union contract that is in the house of labor,” Maiorca said. 

An AFL-CIO spokesperson told HuffPost that management is committed to resolving the dispute, but did not comment beyond that.

HuffPost noted that the Local 2 union last month filed a charge with the National Labor Relations Board accusing AFL-CIO of unfair labor practices.

“Within six months of the filing and service of this charge, [AFL-CIO] … unilaterally changed terms and conditions of the bargaining unit driver and other unit employees without notice and bargaining with OPEUI Local 2,” the charge reads.