HOW LABOR LIVES UNITED

Since 1946, the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) and United Way have enjoyed a cooperative relationship through which local United Ways, like United Way of Greater Chattanooga, provide services to members of organized labor, their families and their communities.

United Way and organized labor work together to:

• Train union members to assist co-workers and their families with information about available local services and to refer them to the appropriate organizations.
• Recruit, train and help place members of organized labor on the decision-making bodies of health and human-service organizations. This is done at the national, state and local levels.
• Solicit contributions from workers through payroll deduction, which account for approximately two-thirds of the funds that United Ways raise each year. Through the Labor Letters of Endorsement Program of the Department of Labor Participation, the AFL-CIO president asks presidents of AFL-CIO-affiliated unions, state federations and central labor councils to send letters endorsing United Way campaigns to their memberships. The Labor Letters of Endorsement Program encourages individual union members to volunteer their time and contribute their resources to United Way campaigns.
• Provide a staff of almost 190 full-time AFL-CIO Community Services Liaisons to serve as links between their state federations and central labor councils and United Ways in 180 communities across the United States. In addition, 20 local labor agencies and five state labor agencies receive direct United Way support.

Call Bill Fuller at 423.752.0313 or contact him by e-mail for more information about how labor works with our local United Way.