Change To Win Coalition

June 15, 2005 marks a momentous day in labor history.

The Change To Win Coalition was formed on June 15, 2005, and is an embryonic formation initially made up of the five largest unions within the AFL-CIO, including the SEIU, Teamsters, UFCW, UNITE-HERE, and the Laborers. As of June 27 the Carpenters union has also joined.

The goal is to "...to promote coordination, cooperation and collective action on organizing, bargaining and political action on a local, national and global scale. This organization, currently named the Change to Win Coalition, would also be open to other unions, including the Carpenters, who share our goals. It will enable this group of unions to carry out innovative strategies to advance workers’ interests."

The combined unions now represent over 6 million American workers.

The coalition has put together a 43-page document outlining a series of resolutions to be presented during the upcoming AFL-CIO (of which all these unions are members) convention on July 25th. A summary of the resolutions can be found at Working Life where Johnathan Tasini (JT) has posted The Insurgent Convention Agenda.

In fact, most of this post is summarized from the Working Life blog, which is an excellent insider blog about American labor in general, and JT is a contributing writer for TomPaine.com and the Utne Reader, as well as the author of several books.