The AFL-CIO has eliminated its International Affairs Department (IAD), ending a once-powerful office that was created during the Cold War to fight communist and left-wing influence in the global labor movement.
The decision is part of a broad reorganization taking place at the AFL-CIO in response to a sharp drop in union membership and a challenge to the federation's leadership by a coalition of unions that is seeking to reverse labor's decline by pouring resources into organizing. According to labor sources, all of the AFL-CIO's international work will now be conducted through the American Center for International Labor Solidarity.
ACILS, better known as the Solidarity Center, receives nearly all of its funding from two government agencies, the National Endowment for Democracy and the Agency for International Development. By restructuring the IAD out of existence, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, who was never very excited about international work in the first place, has ensured that organized labor will no longer have an independent voice in foreign affairs.
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