Food workers union rejoins AFL-CIO

{mosads}“This is not about which building in Washington, D.C., we call home — it is about fostering more opportunities for workers to have a true voice on the job. It is about joining forces to build a more united labor movement that can fight back against the corporate and political onslaught facing our members each and every day,” Hansen said.
 
UFCW was a member of the Change to Win (CTW) federation, a labor group that broke away from the AFL-CIO in 2005 in a bitter dispute over how to reverse declining union membership. The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the Teamsters are also members of Change to Win.
 
“While no longer an affiliate of CTW, we continue our strong relationships with the Teamsters, SEIU and the Farmworkers. We will remain active in the [CTW’s Strategic Organizing Center] and bring our AFL-CIO partners into collaboration with private-sector unions in an effort to build more power for workers,” Hansen said.
 
UFCW’s decision to return to the AFL-CIO will add political clout to the labor federation as it gears up for the 2014 campaign season. Since the 2010 mid-term elections, unions have clashed with Republican state legislatures and governors who have sought to curb collective bargaining rights.
 
Since the labor split in 2005, other unions from Change to Win, such as Unite Here and the Laborers’ International Union of North America, have also decided to rejoin the AFL-CIO.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said UFCW’s decision to rejoin the federation was “great news” for workers.

“Today’s decision by the UFCW to unite with the broader labor movement is great news for workers living in the ‘new normal’ of the low wage economy — working women, young part time workers, retail workers, immigrant workers and so many more,”  Trumka said in a statement.

“A stronger, more unified grassroots movement of working men and women is exactly what’s needed to raise wages for workers and rebuild an American middle class.”