Two unions break from AFL-CIO

The US trade union confederation, the AFL-CIO, has begun its forecast split. Two of the largest unions have broken away to form a rival grouping (see Labour Research, July 2005).

The SEIU service workers' union and the famous Teamsters transport union disaffiliated in late July. They are promising a more aggressive recruitment drive to turn round the union movement's waning influence in the US.

However, AFL-CIO president John Sweeney sees it as a personal power struggle within the leadership, rather than a difference in ideology.