When Labor Walks: What History Says about the New Split in the AFL-CIO

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THE HOUSE OF LABOR HAS DIVIDED against itself once again, and predictions are rife that it is about to fall. When Andrew L. Stern led his Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and three other key unions out of the AFL-CIO during its convention this past summer, it seemed to many a nearly suicidal move, considering how badly the ranks of American labor have already been diminished by globalization, the changing nature of the workplace, and a hostile federal government. The four departing unions constitute about one-third of the organization's total membership. Yet if history is any guide, look for this division to rejuvenate those unions that are staying and going.

Stern is one of the very few rising stars in labor by dint of his unprecedented success in organizing workers in the fast growing service sector. His SEIU walked--along with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the United Food and Commercial Workers, and Unite Here, which is mostly composed of the plucky old garment workers' unions--because they claimed that the AFL-CIO as currently structured is helpless to halt labor's long decline. The portion of unionized private-sector workers has dwindled over the past 50 years from a high of 35 percent to a mere 8 percent. In response, Stern proposed a new coalition, to be called Change to Win Coalition, that would concentrate less of labor's resources on election battles and more on membership drives, including daring …