The following op-ed is by a retired UE Political Action Director Chris Townsend.

All dealings with U.S. labor unions or discussions about them invariably give rise to the obvious question about their numerical membership levels. The actual number of dues-paying union members has always been translated by most into some sort of measure of the overall health and power of that union.

This tendency persists despite the fact that there seems to be no absolute correlation between the number of union members in the union and the actual strength of that organization.  In fact, the smallest union of the four unions that I have belonged to possessed a far, far, greater degree of power and influence – in all ways – than the other three, far larger unions.

Notwithstanding this, union leaders in particular today are prone to describe their union often in terms of size. This has evolved over the decades into a natural behavior, magnifying the impression that the number of members plays some outsized role in defining the relative trade union strength to be found. The 30th Convention of the AFL-CIO in Minneapolis, Minnesota, this past June did not disappoint those curious about or spellbound by labor movement numbers, either. A closer look is therefore in order regarding the number of union members who are also members of the AFL-CIO labor federation.

THE JUNE 2026 AFL-CIO CONVENTION

This writer and publication dedicated significant reporting to the recent Federation Convention, with two detailed articles in advance and a summary article just after the conclusion of the proceedings.

While all three articles reached an above-average numbers of readers, the summary article generated a very large and interesting amount of attention, questions, and comments. Most of the questions and inquiries pertained to my reporting on the total membership numbers advertised and claimed throughout the proceedings by the AFL-CIO top leader, President Liz Shuler. In my third summary article “The Mummification of the AFL-CIO” I described the situation this way; “…almost 5 million phantom “members” are claimed by the federation leaders when in fact none are actual members at all.” The large amount of curiosity generated by this one sentence fragment deserves greater attention as a result.

ANSWERING WHAT SHOULD BE A SIMPLE QUESTION

How many members does the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations, the AFL-CIO, really have? The Federation is, after all, the sum of its parts. This would be the cumulative total of all the unions and their individual U.S. based members who choose to be, and are permitted to be, affiliates of the only labor federation in the U.S. As of September, 2026, the AFL-CIO officially claims on their web site to consist of 65 national and international unions, comprising “nearly 15 million members”. (See the AFL-CIO official explanation).

Answering a simple question like this does, however, take an explanation. Membership levels do fluctuate for all sorts of reasons. New workers are hired by unionized employers and are added to local unions as members; new workplaces are organized and new members join; layoffs occur, and sometimes workplaces are closed and the union members are lost. Canadian members of U.S. based “International Unions” are not dues-paying members of the AFL-CIO, but instead are likely members of the Canadian Labor Congress (CLC). Many unions also collect dues from retirees, and they are often counted in cumulative membership totals by unions.  An entire union may also end its affiliation to the Federation, or be expelled, depriving the Federation of that union’s membership.

It is understood by all that union membership levels fluctuate, but few would expect wholesale fabrication or dishonesty with such an important “number”.

FIVE MILLION “ASSOCIATE MEMBERS”?

What has become a growing problem of sorts in recent years for the Federation is the steady growth of the so-called “Associate Members” included in the total membership numbers reported to the U.S. Department of Labor each year. The intrusive Landrum-Griffin Act compels unions to report a myriad of financial and organizational reports to the federal government, one aspect being an annual declaration of union membership totals. The catch-all “associate member” category was recognized by the Department of Labor during the Clinton regime. This presumably to account for “members” counted by the union, but paying reduced or mostly zero dues, and possessing no or extremely limited voting privileges within the functioning of the union. But let’s be clear; In no sense and at no time in the labor movement has the notion of an “associate member” ever been conflated with that of an actual, full-dues-paying union member.

In 2003, the AFL-CIO created the “Working America” subsidiary organization, and since then every contact made by the Working America canvassers – or people who find the Working America web site and leave their contact information somehow – are all counted as “associate members” of the AFL-CIO. From the inception of the labor movement, union “membership” was always defined as something granted to a worker who had filled-out the required union membership application form, tendered any required initiation fee, and then paid their first month of dues. That was the definition. The labor movement lobbying corps won this associate member “concession” from the Clinton Labor Department, with today’s consequences now run amok.

THE MINNOW BECOMES A WHALE

The Working America minnow has problematically grown to whale-size, now comprising more than one third of all “members” claimed by the AFL-CIO. While the AFL-CIO declares with a straight face having nearly 15 million “members”, the annual 2025 federal reporting form reveals that a full 4,823,802 of those “members” are merely Working America contacts. A further review of the federal AFL-CIO “LM-2” forms required to be filed will reveal confirmation of this in “Section 69, Additional Informational Summary”, and in “Schedule 13” of the same document.

Those who want to learn more about Working America will find their web site very limited in any substantial or updated detail about what exactly this “Community Affiliate” of the AFL-CIO does beyond occasional canvassing for some basic worker issues and supporting assorted Democratic Party candidates. Any suggestion that you are “joining” a union is absent from the web site. There are also no links on the site to the actual AFL-CIO or any of its 65 affiliate unions, a very odd fact since there may well be workers encountered by the Working America canvassers or web site visitors who might be seeking more information about actually joining a union. It also took repeated internet searching for me to determine that Matt Morrison is the Executive Director of Working America. His bio offers that he is a lawyer and spent a very brief part of his political campaign career in the governmental affairs office of the Teachers Union (AFT). His near complete lack of any trade union experience or credentials is of course the shameful norm today in labor’s staff realm.

At the rate of growth of the Working America “members” one can predict that the proportion of overall AFL-CIO members will continue to shift towards the associate “phantom” members. The 2026 federal filings by the AFL-CIO are likely to include some new improved member numbers explained by the return of the large Service Employees Union (SEIU) to the Federation, but the non-member “member” phenomenon will continue to expand.

BOGUS MEMBERSHIP NUMBERS PART OF GENERAL DETERIORATION OF THE AFL-CIO

The sole explanation for this runaway membership falsification is to divert attention from the chronic membership slide experienced by the Federation practically from its inception in 1955. The refusal of the Federation leadership to seriously address the disastrous state of new union organization has led to this persistent use and abuse of the current sham membership numbers. The June Minneapolis Convention featured Federation President Liz Shuler offering a variety of membership numbers and organizing goal numbers, none of which are credible given these revelations.

No serious observer could possibly take seriously any of the numbers trumpeted by Shuler or any other members of the Executive Council. In fact, the Federation Executive Council is complicit in this membership misrepresentation. If it was merely a small quantity of “associate members” that were being used to embellish here and there this problem would be one thing.

But to find that a full 35% of the Federation’s “members” are phantom members paying no dues and having no vote is nothing short of scandalous. The moribund Ethical Practices Committee of the AFL-CIO might ordinarily be curious to discover that the Federation President is engaged in this systematic falsification, but since that Committee has not convened in more than 6 decades there is no apparent internal recourse to seek corrective measures.

FEDERATION DETERIORATION TAKEN FOR GRANTED

In practically any other realm the revelation that a membership organization has been regularly and systematically reporting at-minimum misleading membership numbers – to this gigantic extent – would have consequences. But not so with the AFL-CIO. Given that most democratic procedures have been largely extinguished, meetings of the leadership are infrequent and conducted in secret, and that only a tiny subset of Executive Council insiders dominate the entire Federation, the current outrageous and debilitating discovery is easily ignored. And the record will reflect from the recent Minneapolis Convention that no delegate took the floor to challenge these absurd membership claims – as they were offered repeatedly with no qualifiers or special explanations. Such context would be required so that the leadership assembly would clearly know that the actual membership levels were in reality nearly 5 million fewer.

Left publications and organizations also largely chose to ignore the recent AFL-CIO Convention. Those that did acknowledge it were largely uncritical cheerleaders for the lackluster leaders and scripted proceedings. This author and this publication were an exception, with our reporting and commentary providing practically the only left analysis of the Convention available. A  Convention which after all represents the bulk of the organized workforce in the United States. Left to themselves, the ruling elements in most major unions and the AFL-CIO itself will remain unchallenged. With most of the meager labor left elements all scrambling to try to give credit to the nearly meaningless resolutions passed by the Federation, is it any wonder that whopper matters like wholesale falsification of actual Federation membership numbers were undiscovered in plain sight? The left must do better; this miserable performance must be addressed.

LEFT MUST SHOW LEADERSHIP

The current difficult situation does still offer many paths forward for labor. The membership in many unions repeatedly prove their willingness to fight to advance, and to defend previous gains, but only when properly led. Or led at all. The unorganized prove again and again their willingness to join the unions, in growing numbers and in many different sectors, but the unions largely trail along with only scattered and timid campaigns of organization – if they mount any at all. Trump and corporate attacks across a wide number of fronts have acted to mobilize entire sections of the working class, but with the existing unions only minimally engaged. Communist, socialist, and militant elements must be challenged to confront the labor leadership content with their own sorry record of inaction and outright misleadership. Absent that effort, little progress can be expected.

Legendary U.S. labor leader and communist William Z. Foster faced many of the identical problems and scenarios during his long career as a union leader. His collected works American Trade Unionism is required reading for anyone playing or hoping to play a serious role in today’s labor movement. (For more, check out here)

-Chris Townsend is a 47-year union member and leader. He is the retired Political Action Director for the United Electrical Workers Union (UE) and was the new Organizing and Field Mobilization Director for the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU). Townsend currently serves on the Executive Committee of the International Workers Institute (IWI), the research, publishing and strategy arm of the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU). He may be reached atcwtownsend52@gmail.com

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