Catherwood Library

August-September 2005

PLEASE NOTE: The Reference Question of the Month is kept current only during the month for which it was written. Archived questions will not be updated, and over time may contain inaccurate information or broken web links. We provide archived questions as a service, since much of the information will remain accurate and of continued interest to the ILR community.

Question: How has membership in the AFL-CIO changed over the years?

Answer: The Teamsters, the SEIU, and the United Food and Commercial Workers Union disaffiliated from the AFL-CIO this summer. The departures decreased the ranks of the umbrella organization from nearly to 13,000,000 to approximately 9,000,000 members. The AFL-CIO now has 53 national and international affiliated unions, down from 135 in 1955.

However, large fluctuations in membership are not new occurrences for the AFL. The organization has experienced significant blows to its membership in the past, most notably in the late 1930s, when 10 union leaders under John L. Lewis formed the Committee of Industrial Organizations for the purpose of advancing their agenda of industrial unionism. This committee evolved into the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) and was a significant rival to the AFL until 1955, when the two unions reunited to form the AFL-CIO.

Since this merger, other unions have had periods of disaffiliation from the AFL-CIO. The Teamsters had been expelled from the AFL-CIO in 1957 due to a corruption scandal and only returned to the organization in 1988. The UAW disaffiliated in 1968, but rejoined in 1981. The Carpenters pulled out in 2001 and remain disaffiliated.

Union mergers, such as the combining of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE) with the Hotel Employees and Restarurant Employees Int'l Union (HERE), have led to a decreased number of national unions and thus, a decreased number of national affiliates of the AFL-CIO.

It must also be noted that some unions have a tradition of being independent. The National Education Association (NEA), for instance, has never been affiliated with the AFL-CIO.

The chart below traces membership trends for the AFL, CIO, and the AFL-CIO. The statistics are primarily from convention proceedings of the organizations supplemented with reliable reference books. See notes at end of table for more information.

AFL, CIO, and AFL-CIO Members and Affiliates through the Years

Organization	Year	Members (in thousands)	National Union Affiliates
American Federation of Labor	1885, 1886	120 (AFL, 1960)	13 in 1886 (Fink, 1975)
	1895	260 (AFL, 1960)	30
	1905	1494	81
	1915	1946	86
	1925	2877	96
	1935	3045	95
	1945, 1948	6931	105 (U.S.B.L.S., 1948)
	1955	10593	110 (Fink, 1975)
Congress of Industrial Organizations	1946	6000	39
	1954, 1955	5500	32
AFL-CIO	1955	12622	135 attending 1 st Constitutional Convention, AFL-CIO
	1965	12919	128
	1975	14070	108
	1985	13109	94
	1995	13007	81
	2005	9000 (AFL-CIO, 2005	53 (AFL-CIO, 2005)

• Unless otherwise noted, pre-1965 membership and affiliate statistics were reported in the officers' reports of the AFL, CIO, and AFL-CIO Convention Proceedings for the year. In some cases, the number of affiliates was derived by counting the number of unions credentialed at the conventions.
• More recent statistics were found in the U.S.B.L.S.'s Directory of Labor Unions in the United States; Directory of National Unions and Employee Associations and BNA's Directory of U.S. Labor Organizations.
• 1885 and 1895 Membership figures were derived from a chart appearing on page 29 of American Federation of Labor: History, Encyclopedia, Reference Book.
• The number of union affiliates of the American Federation of Labor in 1886 is provide on page 11 of Labor Unions.
• Affiliate and membership figures for 2005 were found at http://www.aflcio.org.

Works Consulted

AFL-CIO. AFL-CIO Web Page. 2005. <http://www.aflcio.org>. Viewed 8/17/05.

American Federation of Labor. Convention. Report of Proceedings of the ... Annual Convention of the American Federation of Labor. Washington, D. C.: AFL, 1884-1969.

American Federation of Labor: History, Encyclopedia, Reference Book: 1919-1960. Washington, D. C.: AFL, 1960.

Congress of Industrial Organizations (U.S.). Proceedings of the Constitutional Convention of the Congress of Industrial Organizations. Washington, D.C.: CIO, (1938-1955).

Directory of U.S. Labor Organizations. Washington, D.C.: Bureau of National Affairs, 1982-2005.

Fink, Gary M. Labor Unions. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1977.

List of Organizations Affiliated with the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations. Washington, D.C.: AFL-CIO, 1958-1980.

United States. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Directory of Labor Unions in the United States; Directory of National Unions and Employee Associations (1948-1979).

— Researched by Susan LaCette