CHANGE TO WIN

Change to Win is a Federation that consists of seven unions, which include The Laborers’ International Union of North America, The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, The Service Employees International Union, The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, The United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, Unite Here, and The United Farm Workers. Together we represent more than 6 million hard working, dedicated men and women from all races and ethnic backgrounds, which deserve fair wages, benefits, and pensions. We are people that deserve to have a safe and secure job; one that will provide the funds and benefits we need to support ourselves and our families. Change to win is dedicated to educating, organizing, and empowering, hard working men and women so they can obtain what they deserve.

Thanks to six fearless union leaders, Terence O’Sullivan, President, Laborers’ International Union of North America, James P. Hoffa, President, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, John W. Wilhelm, President/Hospitality Industry, UNITE-HERE, Joseph Hansen, President, United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Bruce Raynor, President UNITE-HERE, and Andrew Stern, President, Service Employees International Union, the American Dream was kept alive for us, our families, and future generations to come.

On June 15, 2005, in Washington, D.C., a meeting was held with 50 top union leaders, the Coalition approved a Constitution and Bylaws that would promote the coordination, cooperation and collective action of their affiliated organizations to boost union strength and improve workers’ lives. This Coalition, which is now a federation, is called Change to Win.

The following statements are from that June 15th meeting.

“Our goal is to empower the tens of millions of American workers who face the daily challenge of making ends meet and whose voice has been silenced by the overwhelming power of large global corporations and their representatives in Washington,” the five Presidents said in a joint statement.” The basic principle that brings us here today is that American workers cannot win a better life unless more workers belong to unions, and unless those unions have the focus, strategy, and resources to unite workers in their industry and raise standards for pay, health care, pensions, and working conditions,” they continued. The union leaders said today that they welcome other labor organizations into the Coalition. They said, “In the Constitution and Bylaws we adopted today, we pledged mutual support and solidarity, no raiding, and no retaliation for those who may choose to leave the AFL-CIO. We seek to change the organized labor does, but how it does it.”

“The world is nearly unrecognizable from what it was a generation ago. The stakes could not be higher. If the labor movement doesn’t adopt dramatic changes today to cope with the new economy it will find itself marginalized into oblivion. We come together today to prevent that,” the union Presidents said.