Afl Cio

Leaders of the nation's largest labor federation announced Wednesday that they would spend more money this year than ever before to get voters to the polls in a midterm election they hoped would return Democrats to power in Congress. "This Labor Day, it appears that a 'perfect storm' is gathering that may well sweep away Republican control of the Congress this fall," said AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney. Republican voter mobilization efforts were credited with big GOP wins in 2004 and 2002.

The nation's largest union federation, targeting a segment of the country's growing immigrant workforce, announced Wednesday that it had agreed to work with a large day laborer organization to improve wages and working conditions. The agreement between the AFL-CIO and the National Day Laborer Organizing Network has particular significance in the Los Angeles area, whose estimated 25,000 such workers make it the nation's day laborer capital.

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.

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.

Steve Diamond, an associate law professor and an advisor to the AFL-CIO, has emerged as the leading candidate for the top staff position at the volatile Screen Actors Guild. A search committee led by SAG President Alan Rosenberg is expected to recommend to the union's national board that Diamond be hired as executive director of the 120,000-member guild, a person familiar with the matter said Wednesday.

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 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 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.

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.

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.