THE AFL-CIO and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) announced on Thursday that they are reuniting to launch ‘a new, long-term effort to make it easier for workers to win a voice on our jobs with their unions’.
Two million SEIU service and care workers will join the nearly 13 million-member AFL-CIO, and together, these powerful organisations will push back on union-busting and win for working-class families.
The unions formally announced the affiliation at a roundtable discussion with workers who are fighting to win their unions on Thursday in advance of the AFL-CIO’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Civil and Human Rights Conference, which started yesterday.
The workers will share their stories of why they need new rules to make it easier to join together in unions.
The joint statement said: ‘At a critical moment when everything is on the line for the nation’s working people, the labour movement is uniting to challenge the status quo and build a movement of workers who will fight — on the job, in the streets, at the ballot box, in our communities — for higher pay, expanded benefits and new rules that empower them to join together in unions and organise across industries.
‘This new era of building worker power comes under the strong leadership of AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler and SEIU Internation president April Verrett, whose vision for the future is inclusive and innovative.’
Shuler said: ‘Workers know it’s better in a union, and together we are stronger in our organising and bargaining fights because there is power in unity.
‘CEOs and billionaires want nothing more than to see workers divided, but we’re standing here today with greater solidarity than ever to reach the 60 million Americans who say they’d join a union tomorrow if the laws allowed and to unrig our labour laws to guarantee every worker in America the basic right to organise on the job.’
‘With this news, millions of workers are doubling down on a vision to fundamentally transform our lives. Workers want to join unions because we know that pay is too low and grocery bills are too high.
‘Child care costs as much as rent, which also costs more than it should. Everything we need to live is just one more chance for corporations to profit from us.’
Verrett said: ‘SEIU members are ready to unleash a new era of worker power, as millions of service and care workers unite with workers at the AFL-CIO to build our unions in every industry and every ZIP code.
‘Working people have been organising our workplaces and communities to build a stronger economy and democracy.
‘We are ready to stand up to union-busters at corporations and in government and rewrite the outdated, sexist, racist labour laws that hold us all back.
‘We’re so proud to join together as nearly 15 million members to redouble our commitment to building a thriving, healthy future for working people.’
Over the past year, working people have joined together, including electric bus manufacturing workers at Blue Bird winning a union contract in Georgia, drivers for ride-sharing services winning the right to join a union in Massachusetts, and workers across Missouri winning a $15 an hour minimum wage and guaranteed paid sick leave.
Naomi Martinez, a Starbucks barista from Phoenix said: ‘We’re taking on big corporations that try to stand in our way, standing up to politicians who try to divide us, and creating powerful connections with workers across industries as we win and build our unions together.’
‘When working people stand together, we have the power to lift entire communities.
The AFL-CIO and SEIU statement added: ‘A survey conducted across the US has found that more than 60 million workers say they would join a union if they could – but only 1 in 10 workers has a union because big corporations are allowed to subject workers who organise to unrelenting hatred, harassment and hostility.
‘Meanwhile, support for unions is at record highs as polling shows 7 in 10 Americans approve of unions, including 9 in 10 young people.
‘The huge gap between workers who want to join a union and those who successfully do so represents a massive failure in law and public policy.
‘In response, SEIU and the AFL-CIO are uniting to take on union-busting and secure the right of every worker to safely join with their co-workers in unions to raise wages and improve their jobs.’
Meanwhile, Costco executives abruptly ended collective bargaining negotiations with the Teamsters union on Thursday, refusing to engage with a series of fair and practical proposals.
General President Sean M O’Brien stated: ‘This refusal to negotiate highlights Costco’s ongoing failure to bargain in good faith and underscores a troubling shift in the company’s corporate culture that priorities profits over the well-being of its employees.
‘Our national negotiating committee is fully committed to securing an agreement with Costco, but the company has shown little interest in working constructively to reach a fair deal.
‘In the middle of a workday, Costco walked away from the bargaining table.
‘With less than a month until the contract expires, the company should be working overtime to reach a fair agreement — not walking away from negotiations.
‘Despite reporting record-breaking profits in 2024, Costco has rejected the Teamsters’ comprehensive economic proposal. Costco recently announced annual net profits of $7.4 billion (£6.017 billion) — up from $6.3 billion (£5.121 billion) last year and a staggering 135 per cent increase from $3.1 (£ 2.52 billion) in 2018.
‘These soaring profits are only possible because of the tireless work of Costco employees, who deserve a contract that reflects their critical role in the company’s success.
‘The company has offered a counter-proposal that fails to reflect its historic financial success and provides no increased retirement benefits.’
Tom Erickson, Director of the Teamsters Warehouse Division said: ‘The games Costco is playing at the bargaining table are reckless and shortsighted.
‘Our committee is ready to negotiate every single day. Half-hearted efforts and half-days won’t cut it this close to the contract deadline.
‘It’s time for Costco to get serious and engage in meaningful negotiations.’
The Teamsters represent more than 18,000 Costco workers nationwide.
With the Costco Teamsters National Master Agreement set to expire on 31st January, workers are demanding a contract that reflects their contributions to the company’s success – and they are prepared to strike if necessary.
John Robledo, a Costco worker in Carson and a Local 572 shop steward said: ‘Talks between the Teamsters and Costco are set to resume on Monday.
‘While talks are scheduled to resume, the company remains far from offering a proposal that meets the needs of its workers.’
