Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, has been a fierce advocate for union workers. Employees of the AFL-CIO, the union federation representing 12.5 million workers, rallied against furloughs during the December-January government shutdown. A spokesperson for the federation said it was committed to finding solutions to the dispute with the staff union, but declined to get into specifics. The AFL-CIO has made budget cuts in recent years as the nationwide rate of union membership has dropped. The unions pay fees to the AFL-CIO based on their own membership, and so the AFL-CIO’s financial health tends to rise and fall with the broader labor movement.

Source: Huffington Post April 15, 2019 18:53 UTC