Representing 13 million workers across 60 international unions, the AFL-CIO is the nation’s largest labor federation. As President of the AFL-CIO, Liz Shuler, who is also a second-generation member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), delivered the second annual “State of the Unions” address in Washington, D.C., to give context to the facts, legislation, and actions happening all over the American labor movement.
In the latest Gallup opinion poll on the approval rating of unions, 70% of respondents support unions, and approval jumps up to 90% among young people. That’s the highest level of support unions have had in half a century. Backing up her claim that “workers are growing our power in this country in a way we haven’t in a generation,” AFL-CIO President Shuler cited more than 2,700 union election filings in 2023 – the most ever – and nearly 1 million workers in unions who won double-digit pay increases last year. As it relates to the 2024 General Election, about 20% of the votership in “swing states” like Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Nevada are union members.
Read the full transcript here and watch the CSPAN broadcast here.
