Service workers union rejoins AFL-CIO after 20 years just ahead of Trump's inauguration
Source: AP
Updated 10:57 PM EST, January 8, 2025
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Service Employees International Union is returning to the AFL-CIO after 20 years, betting that a united labor movement will do more to help workers overcome legal challenges to organize and join unions.
The union groups’ executive boards each unanimously approved the combination on Wednesday, with plans to formally announce the affiliation at a Thursday roundtable discussion in Austin, Texas, with workers who are attempting to become union members. There are roughly 2 million SEIU workers in the health care, janitorial and food services sectors, among others. Their addition would bring the total number of AFL-CIO members to nearly 15 million, helping increase the political heft of a federation already composed of 60 unions.
Both AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler and SEIU President April Verrett were careful to say in interviews Wednesday that the combination was not a consequence of Republican Donald Trump winning the November election and returning to the White House.
But their shared goal is to be a political presence in a Trump-dominated Washington that has at times courted organized labor without necessarily backing the policies on wages, overtime and unionization that the movement’s leadership has supported.
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