Machinists consider leaving AFL-CIO By PAUL NYHAN, Seattle Post Intelligencer
At a recent IAM convention, delegates approved a resolution that would allow its executive council to leave the AFL-CIO if the federation's actions ever threatened 'the integrity, independence and autonomy' of the union.
The vote doesn't mean the Machinists union is ready to defect, because delegates voted only to permit the council to take the action. But it indicated that one of the nation's most powerful unions is deeply upset with the AFL-CIO. It was also yet another sign of division over the future of the U.S. labor movement.
'These guy are sending a shot across the bow,' said Nelson Lichtenstein, author of 'State of the Union: A Century of American Labor.'