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Article: American Federation of Labor–Congress of Industrial Organizations
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
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AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR
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CONGRESS OF INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATIONS
AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR
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CONGRESS OF INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATIONS
(AFL-CIO) is the product of a 1955 merger between the two labor federations that represented most trade unions in the United States. The AFL-CIO is not itself a union. Rather, it is an umbrella organization with which some eighty-five national unions affiliate. It rarely bargains with an employer, organizes a worker demonstration, or calls a strike. But it nevertheless constitutes the institutional voice of the labor movement, adjudicating disputes between affiliated unions, coordinating electoral and lobby activities at both the national and ...