Afl Cio

The AFL-CIO, the nation's largest federation of labor unions, has postponed making an endorsement in the Democratic presidential primaries, freeing its 55 unions to choose for themselves from the eight contenders. "There is not a consensus candidate," Karen Ackerman, political director of the AFL-CIO, said in Chicago, one day after the candidates tried to impress union leaders at a presidential forum.

The AFL-CIO and its unions said they would spend an estimated $200 million on the 2008 elections, with the nation's largest labor federation devoting a record $53 million exclusively to grass-roots mobilization. In addition, the AFL-CIO said it would deploy more than 200,000 volunteers leading up to the election, with special focus on battleground states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin.

The United Farm Workers union has left the AFL-CIO and will join a group of breakaway unions known as the Change to Win Coalition, in a move the UFW hopes will boost recruiting efforts, officials said Thursday. The UFW, with about 27,000 members, joins the Service Employees International Union, the Teamsters, the United Food and Commercial Workers, Unite Here and the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners in forming the dissident coalition.

In a new sign of dissatisfaction within organized labor, two national trade unions broke away from an alliance affiliated with the AFL-CIO after complaints about declining membership and misplaced priorities. The Laborers International Union and the International Union of Operating Engineers, representing more than 1 million members, are breaking from the umbrella group known as the Building and Construction Trades Department of the AFL-CIO as of March 1.

Nurses from eight AFL-CIO unions are banding together in an effort to increase their political and organizing strength, leaders announced Thursday. The move could foreshadow more coalitions within industries as organized labor attempts to regain clout. About 200,000 nurses, calling themselves RNs Working Together, are bidding to become the first union members to form such a group -- called an industry coordinating committee -- within the AFL-CIO.

The AFL-CIO said the National Education Assn., with 2.8 million members, would allow local affiliates to join the labor federation, which was hurt when major unions defected last year. Reg Weaver, president of the nation's largest teachers union, said the partnership would give educators more muscle when they campaigned for candidates for local political office and advocated legislation. "This is about two organizations coming together to meet the needs of working families," Weaver said.

The AFL-CIO plans to spend a record $40 million in an attempt to unseat Republicans in this year's congressional elections, the labor federation's president said Monday. The money will fund a campaign to educate and mobilize 11.4 million members of union households in 21 states. It won't be used for campaign contributions, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said at a news conference in San Diego, where the group is holding an executive council meeting.

The Laborers International Union of North America has decided to leave the AFL-CIO, officials said Monday. The Laborers had remained in the AFL-CIO despite joining the Change to Win coalition of unions that have left the giant federation of more than 50 unions in an effort to forge a new direction for organized labor.

The AFL-CIO plans to invest $700 million in housing and other projects to help rebuild New Orleans, which was left with housing shortages and other infrastructure problems after Hurricane Katrina. The money will come from the union federation's pension fund and its lenders, investments that should make money for the fund while aiding the city, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said. It also will create union jobs in a region with an enormous number of construction projects.

The Bush administration Friday rejected a petition by American unions seeking an investigation into Chinese labor practices, arguing that there was evidence that Chinese practices were improving. The decision turned down a request filed in June by the AFL-CIO and two members of Congress who said the Chinese were violating international labor standards and these practices had meant the loss of 1.24 million American jobs as companies moved plants to China.