美国劳联-产联(AFL-CIO)
全名美国劳工联合会-产业工会联合会(American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations)
1955年由劳联和产联合并成的美国独立劳工工会联合会。劳联,建立於1886年,是以把工人组织成行业工会的原则建立的,而产联,建立於1935年,则是按工业部门组织工人的。劳联是1886年在龚帕斯(Samuel Gompers)的领导下,组织起来的一个松散的联合会。其所属工会对自身事务保留充分的自主权。而每个工会都从劳联得到对工人和对声称属自己管辖的产业领域的保护。产联成立於1935年,由自劳联分裂出来的一个工会团体成立产业工会委员会。1938年召开了第一次大会,采用了新名称「产业工会联合会」,通过了章程,并选举路易斯(John L. Lewis)为主席。二十年来,产联和劳联为争夺美国劳工运动的领导权进行了激烈的抗争。但在战後日趋保守和反劳工的气氛下,促使产联和劳联结盟共同反对新法。1955年劳联与产联合并,劳联前主席米尼(George Meany)担任了新工会的主席。会员人数在1970年代晚期高达1,700万人,此後到1980和1990年代中期因美国制造业的就业情况衰退,会员人数稍微下降。劳联-产联的任务是为劳工运动组织力量,开展教育活动,在所属工会间调解管辖权限的纠纷,在政治上支持有利於劳工的立法。亦请参阅Kirkland, Lane、Knights of Labor、Reuther, Walter (Philip)。
English version:
AFL-CIO
U.S. federation of labor unions formed in 1955 by the merger of the AFL and the CIO. The AFL was founded in 1886 as a loose federation of craft unions under the leadership of Samuel Gompers. Member unions retained autonomy and received protection of their workers and jurisdiction over a certain industrial territory. The CIO was founded in 1935 as the Committee for Industrial Organization by a splinter group of AFL unions whose leaders believed in organizing skilled and unskilled workers across entire industries; at its first convention in 1938, it adopted its current name and elected John L. Lewis president. For two decades the AFL and CIO were bitter rivals for the leadership of the U.S. labor movement, but they formed an alliance in the increasingly conservative, antilabor climate of the postwar era, and in 1955 they merged under the leadership of George Meany. AFL-CIO membership reached 17 million in the late 1970s but declined in the 1980s and '90s as the U.S. manufacturing sector shrank. AFL-CIO activities include recruiting and organizing members, conducting educational campaigns, and supporting political candidates and legislation deemed beneficial to labor. See also Lane Kirkland, Knights of Labor, Walter Reuther.