Alabama has a proud labor history. The first local union chartered in Alabama was the Typographical Society Local 27, which was established in Mobile in 1836. The early 1920's and 50's offered many challenges to Alabama's labor movement. We have survived because we have supported each other. We realized early that our strength is in our numbers and our numbers are our strength. The merger of the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) in 1956 brought about the Alabama Labor Council, now known as the Alabama AFL-CIO. We have come a long way since then. Alabama is presently ranked as having the highest number of its workforce working under a collective bargaining agreement than any other state in the southeast, thus distinguishing the Alabama labor movement above our neighboring states.

    The Alabama AFL-CIO is made up of affiliated local unions, ten central bodies, and several state and district councils. There are two elected full-time Executive Officers, along with eighteen elected members of the Executive Board, who come from various international unions throughout the state. Conventions are held every two years, with the election of officers every other convention at four year intervals. Special COPE endorsement conventions are held in election years. The Alabama AFL-CIO is under the jurisdiction of AFL-CIO Region 5 in Atlanta, Georgia.

    In 1974 the Alabama AFL-CIO played the major role in persuading the Alabama Legislature to establish the Center for Labor Education and Research (better known as CLEAR) as part of the School of Business at the University of Alabama in Birmingham. CLEAR offers a full range of educational programs specifically designed to meet the needs of organized workers in Alabama. They cover everything from collective bargaining to workplace safety, with no educational background requirements for enrollment. Workshops and conferences are offered at UAB, and classes are held at local union halls or meeting places throughout Alabama as requested by any local or central labor body. Special workshops are also offered at Alabama AFL-CIO conventions, usually through CLEAR.

    Through a democratic process involving the entire membership, final endorsements of candidates for public office are made at the Special COPE Convention. It is the responsibility of the Alabama Committee on Political Education to educate the membership on candidates seeking public office in order for them to make informed decisions for endorsements of those candidates sympathetic to working people. Therefore, voting records of all members of the Alabama House of Representatives and Senate regarding labor issues are kept on computer and distributed to the membership. It is also the responsibility of Alabama COPE to inform membership of those endorsements and to encourage them to vote for their endorsed candidates by way of get-out-the vote through mail outs, phone banks, hand billing, etc. It is important to note that the Alabama AFL-CIO never tells anyone how to vote, but merely informs them of the endorsements by labor and encourages them to vote for those candidates for the benefit of all working people.

    The Alabama AFL-CIO Legislative Department keeps track of all bills introduced in the state legislature which affect labor. This creates a monumental responsibility since an average of 1,300 bills are introduced annually. The state federation provides skilled and experienced lobbying in the state legislature to ensure that workers' voices are heard and their best interests represented.

    The state federation has established legislative action committees in each of the seven congressional districts throughout Alabama. These committees have been trained on national legislative issues affecting labor in order that expert presentations can be made to congressmen when they meet with them in union halls to present our needs and wishes.