In 1995, new AFL-CIO director John Sweeney had an ambitious plan to organize millions of new union members. As labor’s fortunes continue to decline 30 years later, understanding what went wrong in the Sweeney years may offer clues as to the path forward.

When I came to the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) in 1998, not long after John Sweeney was elected president, the enthusiasm and hope around organizing was contagious.

I’d spent much of my twenties as a union organizer in the South, talking with working people in their homes and witnessing the tsunami of employer resistance they faced when unionizing. I knew at my core just how hard it was for US workers to organize. Nevertheless, it seemed that the Kirkland-era stagnation was finally out,

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