Why did the union leave the AFL-CIO and join Change to Win?
It is disingenuous to lay the blame for the decrease in the number of union members at the feet of the AFL-CIO or John Sweeney. So I come at it from the perspective that, if we want to grow as a movement, we need to grow as individual units. It is easier for some than others. It is easier for us than those who are in manufacturing, because until you fix some of the trade policies in this country it is awfully hard to grow your organization. So there was frustration on a whole host of levels. In the construction industry, like most industries, we are now dealing with multinational firms that have bought U.S. construction firms. The industry has gone global and we stayed local. So we needed to run large-scale campaigns, and Change to Win has the ability to run them. To me, it is the future of our organization. They have helped us recruit skilled trade organizers. Q: Was the AFL-CIO inept? A: No, they weren’t, but they did not have that organizing core that was solely focused. Q: There ha
