Laborers’ Union to Re-affiliate With AFL-CIO
August 19, 2010
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The General Executive Board of the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) has unanimously voted to rejoin the AFL-CIO, effective October 1, 2010, four years after the 500,000-member union disaffiliated from the federation.
In their statements, LIUNA General President Terence O’Sullivan and AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka emphasized the importance of a strong, unified labor movement, especially now when so much is riding on electing a Congress who will lead the fight for America’s workers by creating good-paying jobs and working hard to restore the middle class. LIUNA’s announcement follows a decision by Unite Here to rejoin the AFL-CIO last September.
In a related story, a recent Gallup poll indicates that approval of labor unions is on the rise in America. According to the poll conducted August 5-8, just over half of Americans (52 percent) said they approved of labor unions, up from 48 percent last year. While the percentage is still a far cry from the 72 percent approval rating when Gallup first took the poll in 1936, it does indicate more workers are looking to unions for help in these economic hard times.
