AFL-CIO mobilizes around the world - By WILL LESTER, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Veterans of the labor movement say it has been under siege for almost a quarter-century, since President Reagan fired federal air traffic controllers in 1981 during a prolonged strike. The steady loss of manufacturing jobs overseas, corporate hostility to unions and government policies that make organizing new unions a slow and difficult process have all contributed to labor's problems.
About a half-dozen unions cited declining membership for their decision this summer to break away from the AFL-CIO and focus more on organizing new members than on political activism.
The problem for organized labor is that union jobs are disappearing faster than new members can be recruited.