Question

The AFL-CIO has over 15 million members. The American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations has a complex history, but it is this history that helps explain the current structure of the AFL-CIO. There were certainly times when the unions and management were in direct conflict. There were situations where the unions were thought to engage in illegal activities. The union movement went through growing pains, and through a variety of experiences with management and the laws of the country, the union matured and took on more of a business perspective. The AFL-CIO and its leaders from the past help define the labor movement in the U.S. and help define where the union movement is today.
(a) Compare and contrast the AFL-CIO (federation) national and local unions in the following dimensions: officers, structure and organization, functions, political activities, etc.
(b) As you compare and contrast these components, be sure to weave in the historical elements that help us understand the current structure of the union.

Answer 1

Structure of the AFL-CIO

The Federation’s constitution, adopted at its founding convention in 1955, established an organizational structure closely resembling that of the former AFL, but with more authority over affiliates vested in the Federation. The chief members of the Federation continue to be the national and international unions, the trades departments, the State and local bodies, and the federal labor unions (formerly AFL) and local industrial unions (formerly CIO) affiliated directly with the Federation (organization chart).

The supreme governing body of the A FL-C IO is the biennial convention. Each union is entitled to convention representation according to the membership on which the 5-cent per capita tax has been paid. Between conventions, the executive officers, assisted by the Executive Council, the Executive Committee, and the General Board, direct the affairs of the AFL-C IO . In brief, the functions of the two top officers and of the three governing bodies are as follows:

Executive Officers: The president, as chief executive officer, has authority to interpret the constitution between meetings of the Executive Council. He also directs the staff of the Federation. The secretary-treasurer is responsible for all financial matters.

Executive Council: The Executive Council, consisting of 27 vice presidents and the 2 executive officers, is the governing body between conventions

Executive Committee: The president, secretary treasurer, and six vice presidents selected by the Executive Council comprise the Executive Committee. As prescribed in the constitution, this committee is to “meet every 2 months and shall advise and consult with the president and secretary-treasurer on policy matters

Department of Organization:

To further the organizing activities of the A FL-C IO , the constitution established a separate Department of Organization to operate under the general direction of the president. The director of the department is appointed by the president after consultation with the Executive Committee, subject to approval of the Executive Council. The department has its own staff and other resources necessary to carry out its activities.

AFL-CIO Membership by State The lack of membership data by State has long been a serious gap in the Bureau’s reports in this field. In an attempt to bridge this gap, at least partially, A FL-C IO State bodies were asked to estimate the number of members of AFLr-CIO unions in their respective States.21 Responses were received from all but one State body, the Pennsylvania State Federation of Labor (formerly AFL) which had not yet merged with its former CIO counterpart (table 10). Since not all A F L -C IO unions join their respective State bodies, it is unlikely that responding officers had the necessary information which would yield a precise membership figure. It is interesting to note, however, that the 18.3 million total shown in table 10 comes remarkably close to the 13.9 million reported by A FL-C IO affiliates for the continental United States (table 1), and a response from the Pennsylvania State Federation of Labor would have more than offset this 600,000 difference. Almost one-half of the reported A FL-C IO membership was concentrated in four States— New York, California, Ohio, and Illinois. Excluding Texas and Indiana, the remaining 17 States with right-to-work laws accounted for only a small proportion (11 percent) of total A F L - CIO membership.

(b) As you compare and contrast these components, be sure to weave in the historical elements that help us understand the current structure of the union.

For this Directory, information on union membership and union functions was obtained by means of a questionnaire mailed to all A FL-C IO affiliates and to all unaffiliated unions known to be interstate in scope.10 Among other questions, unions were asked to report the average number of dues-paying members for 1957 and 1958; the categories of members included in, or excluded from, the 1958 totals; the number of members outside the continental United States; and the proportion of women and white-collar members. An earlier query on the dispersion of union membership by industry 11 was refined by adding several broad manufacturing industry groups. In addition, for the first time, A FL-C IO State bodies were asked to furnish estimates on the total number of members of A FL-C IO unions in their respective States. The information received from unions was, where necessary, supplemented by estimates derived from other sources, notably union periodicals, convention proceedings, financial reports, and collective bargaining agreements on file in the Bureau.

Although total membership and membership in the continental United States have declined since 1956, the number enrolled outside continental United States edged upward by about 90,000. In the period 1956-58, totals for Canada and Puerto Rico rose by about 65,000 and 25,000, respectively. Elsewhere, only minor changes were reported. National and international unions reported a total of 1.2 million members outside continental United States, including Hawaii and Alaska which, in 1958, were not yet States. The overwhelming majority were in Canada, where 117 unions accounted for nearly 1.1 million members (table 1). A ll but a small fraction of the remaining 130,000 members were in Puerto Rico (70,000), Hawaii (36,000), Alaska (19,000), and the Panama Canal Zone (2,700). Two unions of Federal employees accounted for more than half of the 1,700 members located in other countries. Membership in A FL-C IO affiliates exceeded that of unaffiliated unions in all areas except Hawaii, where the International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union, with 21,000 member

The factors which lie behind these changes are difficult to assess. An increase in membership for a particular union is often the result of merger or, in the case of A FL-C IO affiliates, the absorption of directly chartered locals (FLU ’s and LITPs) by an international union. While such actions do not add new workers to the labor movement, an extension of union shop provisions does have this effect.16 Other changes can be attributed to inter union rivalries and, more significantly, to fluctuations in employment in particular industries and occupations. For example, many railroad unions reported fewer members in 1958 than in 1951, as did unions in the shoe, textiles, automobile, rubber, and steel industries. Among the unions which scored advances during 1951-58 were several in Government service and in air transportation, and unions with a large proportion of skilled craftsmen employed in a variety of industries. Size of Unions The concentration of membership in a few unions has long been a characteristic of American unions. In 1958, 14 of the 186 national and international unions encompassed one-half of all union