America’s Workers Are Fighting Back — and Winning

We are working toward policy solutions that improve the lives of working people and provide a more just future for all Americans.

When the AFL-CIO held its last convention four years ago, America’s workers faced serious challenges, including rising prices, crumbling infrastructure, loss of manufacturing jobs, and lingering health, safety, and economic costs from the COVID pandemic. And, as we always do, we rolled up our sleeves and got to work.

Joining us in the work at that convention was the “most pro-union president” in modern history. Our efforts put President Joe Biden in the White House, and our unions worked closely with his administration to bring forth a wealth of meaningful policy solutions toward improving the lives of working people and providing a more just future for all Americans.

Photo by Manny Becerra on Unsplash

This year, we are gathering for our convention in the Twin Cities under vastly different circumstances, with the current administration tearing down the economy, unions, longstanding programs and institutions, and democracy itself.

Throughout history, the labor movement has risen to meet the moment — and with you we have again risen to the challenge. We stood together to defend the rights of working people and became the trusted voice this country needed to lead the fight against injustice and oppression.

And we did not just fight back and survive — we grew and thrived. We saw more organizing and membership growth across sectors and industries.

We sounded the alarm about the administration’s cuts. We launched a campaign that shut down President Trump’s and Elon Musk’s DOGE effort. We conducted field hearings and crisscrossed the country on a nationwide bus tour to engage with union members, advocate for pro-worker policies and support organizing efforts.

We fought back in the courts, filing and assisting on dozens of lawsuits — including with Contrarian Publisher and Co-Founder Norm Eisen! — challenging the unlawful attacks on working people.

We mobilized on Capitol Hill — including passing bipartisan, pro-union legislation twice through the House — and in statehouses across the country, protecting critical agencies and programs working people rely on, and keeping sweeping union-busting and disastrous artificial intelligence (AI) provisions out of the final budget reconciliation bill.

We fought back in the streets, including in Minnesota, which shone as a north star to our nation. Our Frontline Solidarity program directly trained thousands of activists and organizers and helped union members navigate the anti-immigrant agenda of this administration.

We were also front and center supporting workers as they joined together in collective action, stood up for their rights and secured historic contract victories. In 2025 alone, we helped support more than 100 campaigns and strikes — impacting some 1.3 million workers — while organizing teams helped hundreds of thousands of federal workers maintain union membership in the face of attacks.

Organizing remains our top priority. At our last convention, we set a goal for ourselves to organize 1 million new members in the next decade. Despite the biggest union-busting we have ever seen from the government and a desperate need to rewrite the rules that have systematically locked workers out of organizing, our affiliated unions met that goal in just three years.

AI is one of the defining issues workers face. With the support of the AFL-CIO Technology Institute, we established the State Federation AI Task Force, which brings state federation leaders together to advance major pro-worker AI bills and establish guardrails that ensure workers, not tech giants, shape the future of work.

The AFL-CIO has been a leading voice in advocating that workers must have a seat at the table on deciding the future of AI from state capitals, to Washington, D.C., to the Vatican. These are not just critical issues to our members — the broader public now trusts organized labor for guidance on these new technologies more than either political party or the companies themselves.

And we are stepping up to fight back against the attacks on our democracy and attempts to restrict our right to vote. We have deepened our relationships in coalition with civil and human rights movement partners, collaborating and aligning across campaigns as well as legislative and policy efforts.

We are not only broadening our coalition partners, we are also broadening our movement. Since the 2022 convention, seven unions of professional athletes have affiliated with the AFL-CIO and joined the AFL-CIO Sports Council. Last year, we welcomed the 2 million members of the Service Employees International Union home to the federation.

As we gather in the Twin Cities, more and more Americans are looking to the labor movement as a strong and coherent voice for an equitable future, and as the most effective and powerful vehicle to vanquish oppression.

This is a moment of terrific challenge, but in the challenge lies opportunity. Let us be reminded of the incredible progress we have made for workers and throughout the history of America when we have come together in unity, clarity of purpose, and unshakeable solidarity. In that spirit, we look forward to this convention’s pursuit of a better America and a better world, because, as our motto says, With You: It’s Better in a Union.

We hope you will join us on the livestream June 7-10 and are crossing fingers that schedules align and we can join you all on a Coffee With the Contrarians from there!

Liz Shuler is president of the AFL-CIO.

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