UMW Becomes AFL-CIO Member After 40 Years of Going It Alone

WASHINGTON —  The AFL-CIO on Thursday officially welcomed the United Mine Workers into the federation, more than 40 years after the union broke with labor’s two umbrella organizations.

“This is one of the greatest pleasures I’ve had in the trade union movement,” AFL-CIO President Lane Kirkland said at a brief ceremony at which he presented UMW President Richard Trumka with the union’s affiliation charter.

In addition, Kirkland returned to the UMW a note that the American Federation of Labor had received from UMW President John L. Lewis on Dec. 12, 1947.

“We disaffiliate,” said the short note from Lewis, who quit because of a political fight with other federation leaders.

Two years earlier, Lewis had pulled the UMW out of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, which he had helped to form as a rival to the AFL. The AFL and CIO merged in 1955.

“It’s been a long time in coming,” said Trumka, who embraced Kirkland and credited him with creating the atmosphere that led to the UMW’s decision to join the 14-million-member federation.

The UMW requested the affiliation on Oct. 8, and it was unanimously approved by the AFL-CIO’s executive council. The UMW, which has about 150,000 members, becomes the 90th union to affiliate with the federation.