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AFL

A Dictionary of Contemporary World History

AFL (American Federation of Labor) A confederation of so-called ‘craft’ unions to represent skilled trades, founded in 1886 after mass disorders culminating in the Haymarket Square riot in Chicago. From its formation until his retirement in 1924 it was decisively shaped by its President, Samuel Gompers, who stood for ‘pure and simple’ unionism. He summed up his approach simply with one word, ‘More’. He wanted a pragmatic organization of skilled workers committed to collective bargaining for better wages and conditions. The AFL reflected this, as each of the Federation's thirteen craft unions was self-governing and extended membership only to skilled workers. The growing numbers of semi-skilled workers in mass-production industries who were outside the AFL's definition of craft at first found their champion in John L. Lewis, leader of the more militant United Mine Workers.

When Lewis failed to convince the AFL of the need to promote industry-wide unions in steel, automobiles, and chemicals, he formed (1936) the Committee (later Congress) of Industrial Organizations (CIO), its members seceding from the AFL. In 1955 these two rival organizations were reconciled as the AFL-CIO under George Meany and Walter Reuther. The Teamsters were expelled from the new organization in 1957. In 1968, the United Auto Workers under Reuther seceded; they were brought back in 1981, and six years later the Teamsters rejoined. With over fifteen million members and almost 100 affiliated trade unions, it remained the recognized voice of organized labour in the USA and Canada, although in common with the rest of the industrial world, trade union membership declined greatly in the US. In 2002, the AFL-CIO claimed thirteen million members.

http://www.aflcio.org

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© A Dictionary of Contemporary World History 2004, originally published by Oxford University Press 2004.

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