AFL-CIO UNILATERALLY IMPLEMENTS CONTRACT AGAINST ITS OWN WORKERS, WHO ANNOUNCE STRIKE
Some of the most anti-union employers in the entire country are the unions themselves. This is a shocking but true statement. There is a long history of labor unions opposing their own employees forming unions, generally feeling that such actions are disloyal to the employer union.
A recent example of this occurred at the headquarters of the largest U.S. union federation, the AFL-CIO. Due to its inability to negotiate a contract with the union representing its own employees, the AFL-CIO announced that it was unilaterally imposing a new contract on the workers, one the employees had unanimously rejected. Its terms included reduced sick leave, no wage increases and weakened lay-off protection. A union spokesperson for the workers said that: "If a company tried to force a contract like this, we believe that the AFL-CIO would deplore the company as anti-union."
The union representing about 50 janitors, secretaries and accountants voted to authorize a strike against the AFL-CIO.