SEIU Head Says No to AFL-CIO Return

CHICAGO — The leader of a breakaway faction that has split the AFL-CIO, said Wednesday that his union would not mend ties with the 50-year-old umbrella group at the heart of the U.S. labor movement and that a new federation was needed to replace it.

“The AFL-CIO as we know it will never exist again,” said Andrew Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union. “We need to build something new ... start from zero.”

Last month, the SEIU, the United Food and Commercial Workers and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters decided to split from the AFL-CIO because of differences over how to stem a decline in membership.

The separation has stripped the AFL-CIO of one-third of its membership and more than $20 million in membership fees.

The three dissenters and four other unions, which are part of a coalition called the Change to Win Coalition, are working to launch a rival group next month.

“Our seven unions are prepared to build a new, 21st century, modern and more flexible organization that focuses its attention outside Washington, D.C., and political parties,” Stern said.

More than 1,500 union leaders, mostly from the service industries, from 150 countries met this week in Chicago to plan strategies to boost international unionization. At the convention, the head of the food and commercial workers group struck a more conciliatory tone than Stern, saying the food workers would consider returning to the AFL-CIO at some point.

“I hope that some day we can come back,” Joe Hansen, who is president of the United Food and Commercial Workers, said this week.

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney has said his organization has “put aside our anger and disappointment and we are doing everything in our power to get back together.”