Ending a four-year schism, the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) has decided to rejoin the AFL-CIO as of October 1, 2010. LIUNA, with more than half a million members in the construction industry, had withdrawn from the AFL-CIO in 2006 to affiliate with Change to Win, a competing labor movement comprised of the LIUNA, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the United Farm Workers of America (UFW), and the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW). The SEIU instigated this mass defection from the AFL-CIO to form Change to Win in 2005, purportedly due to internal disagreements about the direction of the organization. AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka has made it a mission to unify the labor movement.

In a statement, LIUNA General President Terry O’Sullivan claimed: “Now more than ever, working people and our country need a united union movement,” adding, “Despite the historic success of the 2008 federal elections, too much is not getting done on Capitol Hill. A united union movement can better focus Congress – and particularly the U.S. Senate – on helping to lead our nation, rather than being locked in inaction.” Several items on labor’s legislative agenda have been stymied by opposition in the Senate in recent years, a prime example being the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which would provide for “card check” recognition of unions.

The LIUNA’s announcement comes on the heels of SEIU’s secretary-treasurer Anna Burger’s announcement that she is retiring from the union as well as stepping down from her position as Chair of Change to Win. Whether the other four Change to Win labor unions will follow LIUNA’s suit and reaffiliate with the AFL-CIO is uncertain. Also uncertain is whether Change to Win would then disband, or instead provide a framework within the AFL-CIO organization for continued cooperation between these unions.

This entry was written by Stephen Smith.

Photo credit: YanC