Major Union Ditches AFL-CIO Over Obamacare & Immigration Reform

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which boasts roughly 40,000 members, has formally announced its decision to cut ties with the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), one of the largest private sector unions in the U.S.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka (Getty Images)

"It is with regret but resolve that we have come to the point where the International Longshore and Warehouse Union must cut formal ties with the AFL-CIO," ILWU International President Robert McEllrath wrote in an Aug. 29 letter to AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.

The letter listed two major reasons for the group's decision: the AFL-CIO’s support for both the Affordable Care Act and the U.S. Senate immigration reform bill.

“We feel the Federation has done a great disservice to the labor movement and all working people,” McEllrath wrote.

McEllrath complained that the CIO's support for President Barack Obama’s health care law is to the detriment of groups including the ILWU.

"President Obama ran on a platform that he would not tax medical plans and at the 2009 AFL-CIO Convention, you stated that labor would not stand for a tax on our benefits," he said. "The ILWU has also become increasingly frustrated with the Federation's moderate, overly compromising policy positions on such important matters as immigration, labor law reform, healthcare reform, and international labor issues."

McEllrath said the CIO's support for the Senate immigration bill violates the ILWU's longstanding commitment to immigration reform that provides “a clear path to citizenship” as well as protection from firing.

“[T]he immigration bill you recently asked us to support imposes extremely long waiting periods on the path to citizenship,” he wrote.

McEllrath also acknowledged what was already a pretty shaky relationship between the two groups, noting the time it got kicked out during the McCarth- era for being “too red.”

Here’s a full copy of the letter:

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(H/T: Breitbart). Follow Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) on Twitter

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