Washington Days before President-elect Donald Trump returns to office, two significant unions announced their reunion, nearly two decades after they split.
Re-joining the AFL-CIO, a coalition of 60 allied labor unions, was announced by the Service Employees International Union on Wednesday. Its membership will reach 15 million workers with the addition of SEIU.
It is anticipated that the second Trump administration, which takes office in less than two weeks, will see labor unions very differently than the Biden administration did. But according to the AFL-CIO and SEIU leaders, the decision to join forces was not political.
In an interview, AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler stated, “The idea that this is political couldn’t be further from the truth in terms of the election results.”
The union officials also declared that they are ready to stand up for workers when Trump takes office. In the 2024 election, both unions had supported Vice President Kamala Harris, claiming that Trump’s policies would be dehumanizing and anti-worker.
In an interview, SEIU International President April Verrett stated, “We are not blind to the dangers that may be looming over us.”
According to Shuler, the unions will use their organizational strength to launch an offensive and mount a strong defense in response to threats.
“We are arguably the only organization in the nation with a mobilizing machine infrastructure in every city, state, and workplace,” she said. Outside power builds within power, as the saying goes.
The unions’ reunion, according to a statement from President Joe Biden, “will help workers across the country to organize, earn higher wages, receive better benefits, and build retirement security.”
“I am proud to be the most pro labor President in American history and I m proud to congratulate American workers on this important milestone,” Biden stated.
Approximately 2 million SEIU members are employed in police enforcement, hospitals, and schools, among other places. The United Auto Workers, the American Federation of Teachers, and the American Federation of Government Employees are among the unions that are connected with the AFL-CIO. Many major corporations, such as General Motors, Disney, and the US Postal Service, employ union members nationwide. (Many NBC News staff members are members of the AFL-CIO via the Communications Workers of America’s NewsGuild.)
According to Shuler and Verrett, discussions about collaborating had been going on for years.
Naturally, this is a significant moment and a strong signal, but it’s also something that has been developing and that we believe will be true in the long run. Shuler stated that since beginning her presidency in 2021, she has been collaborating more with SEIU.
According to Verrett, the SEIU board authorized the union to speak with the AFL-CIO more formally about joining the affiliation in June 2023.
According to Ken Jacobs, a senior policy adviser at the UC Berkeley Labor Center, the announcement includes SEIU in the larger federation’s priority-setting process. He described the initial Trump administration as being quite anti-worker.
According to Jacobs, this is also a very obvious indication of the importance of labor unity in the upcoming four years, when the Trump administration is certain to be antagonistic to the interests of working people.
A request for response Wednesday night was not immediately answered by a Trump spokesman.
Trump has pledged to revive the auto sector and restore employment that had been lost to foreign countries.
Unions have reacted negatively to Trump allies Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy’s proposals for significant changes in government employee employment under the next Trump administration. Musk and Ramaswamy are co-heads of the new nonprofit Department of Government Efficiency. Several unions supported Harris last year, and Trump has blasted the United Auto Workers.
Nevertheless, Trump’s attempts to curry favor with union members were successful in persuading the Teamsters, a significant union that had always backed Democrats, to reject to endorse a presidential candidate.