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Homecoming for Liz Shuler

Don McIntosh
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LABOR PRESS: You’ve been given such a huge responsibility now, with the death of your friend Rich Trumka [In August she was appointed to serve the remainder of his term.] But the entire time you’ve been involved, labor has been struggling to come back. Do you have a secret plan? What can the AFL-CIO do to rebuild the labor movement?

AFL-CIO PRESIDENT LIZ SHULER: The AFL-CIO has a role to play in capturing the country’s imagination and connecting the dots. But we need more local unions organizing. We have 57 affiliate unions. All have different approaches. We as the federation can create new tools, new strategies, and provide the space for unions to come together and help each other across sector. We have great examples in the last couple of years with our Presidents Organizing Initiative, in which we’ve gone deep in three cities to test the waters. So in Seattle, for example, we have a staff person working with our Central Labor Council and state federation. They formed a digital hiring hall, finding ways for stadium workers to be integrated into our labor movement before they’re even union members.

Read the full interview.