WASHINGTON — The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union here said Thursday it is re-affiliating with the AFL-CIO after an eight-year hiatus.
The move will boost the labor federation's membership by 1.3 million workers, the union said.
"We join the AFL-CIO because it is the right thing to do for UFCW members, giving them more power and influence," Joseph T. Hansen, UFCW president, said in a statement. "This is not about which building in Washington D.C. we call home — it is about fostering more opportunities for workers to have a true voice on the job."
The move ends the UFCW's membership in the Change to Win labor federation, though the union said it will continue to be involved in that group's organizing campaigns. Change to Win — which includes the Teamsters, the United Farm Workers and the Service Employes International Union — was launched in 2005 when several unions broke from the AFL-CIO due to philosophical differences.
Hansen said the re-affiliation with the AFL-CIO will help strengthen the union. "Attacks on workers brought the UFCW into direct strategic partnership with the AFL-CIO and made it clear it was time for the UFCW to redouble our efforts to build a more robust and unified labor movement," Hansen said.
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