How has membership in the AFL-CIO changed over the years?
The Teamsters, the SEIU, and the United Food and Commercial Workers Union disaffiliated from the AFL-CIO this summer. The departures decreased the ranks of the umbrella organization from nearly to 13,000,000 to approximately 9,000,000 members. The AFL-CIO now has 53 national and international affiliated unions, down from 135 in 1955. However, large fluctuations in membership are not new occurrences for the AFL. The organization has experienced significant blows to its membership in the past, most notably in the late 1930s, when 10 union leaders under John L. Lewis formed the Committee of Industrial Organizations for the purpose of advancing their agenda of industrial unionism. This committee evolved into the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) and was a significant rival to the AFL until 1955, when the two unions reunited to form the AFL-CIO. Since this merger, other unions have had periods of disaffiliation from the AFL-CIO. The Teamsters had been expelled from the AFL-CIO in 1
