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Strategic Organizing Center
The Strategic Organizing Center (SOC), formerly known as the Change to Win Federation (CtW), is a North American national trade union center originally formed in 2005 as an alternative to the AFL-CIO. The coalition is associated with strong advocacy of the organizing model. The coalition currently consists of Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the United Farm Workers (UFW), and the Communications Workers of America (CWA), the former and latter of which are affiliated with both the SOC and the AFL-CIO. Michael Zucker is currently listed as the Executive Director of the organization since 2020.
The SOC also includes SOC Investment Group, a shareholder engagement arm of the SOC that challenges management of large, publicly traded companies targeted by the SOC's campaigns.
In the summer of 2009, the United Brotherhood of Carpenters disaffiliated from Change to Win.
After a bitter and divisive internal battle, a third of the members of UNITE HERE left that union and joined SEIU. The remaining 265,000 members of UNITE HERE reaffiliated with the AFL–CIO on September 16, 2009.
The Laborers' International Union of North America said it would also leave Change to Win and rejoin the AFL–CIO on August 13, 2010. LIUNA officials did not immediately explain their reasons, but AFL–CIO officials said the reaffiliation would be formalized in October 2010.
On August 8, 2013, the United Food and Commercial Workers announced that they would be leaving Change to Win and re-affiliating with the AFL–CIO.
On January 8, 2025, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) announced that they are reuniting with the AFL-CIO, bringing the total membership of the AFL-CIO to nearly 15 million members.
On January 9, 2009, national news media reported that five of the seven CtW unions had met with seven of the largest unions in the AFL–CIO in talks which explored the possibility of the five CtW unions rejoining the larger labor federation. Impetus for the talks came as the Obama administration signalled to both labor federations that it preferred to deal with a united rather than fragmented labor movement. Also, several Change to Win unions also concluded that they were not getting any significant advantage from being in a separate labor federation, and that a fragmented labor union was doing more harm than good. David Bonior, a former US Congressman who once led the AFL–CIO's American Rights at Work division and who was a member of Barack Obama's presidential transition team, facilitated the meeting, and said talks were scheduled to last several weeks. The five CtW unions present included the Laborers, SEIU, the Teamsters, UFCW, and UNITE HERE. AFL–CIO unions present included AFSCME, the AFT, the Electrical Workers, the UAW, and the United Steelworkers. Also in attendance was Dennis Van Roekel, president of the National Education Association, which is independent and belongs to neither group.
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Strategic Organizing Center
The Strategic Organizing Center (SOC), formerly known as the Change to Win Federation (CtW), is a North American national trade union center originally formed in 2005 as an alternative to the AFL-CIO. The coalition is associated with strong advocacy of the organizing model. The coalition currently consists of Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the United Farm Workers (UFW), and the Communications Workers of America (CWA), the former and latter of which are affiliated with both the SOC and the AFL-CIO. Michael Zucker is currently listed as the Executive Director of the organization since 2020.
The SOC also includes SOC Investment Group, a shareholder engagement arm of the SOC that challenges management of large, publicly traded companies targeted by the SOC's campaigns.
In the summer of 2009, the United Brotherhood of Carpenters disaffiliated from Change to Win.
After a bitter and divisive internal battle, a third of the members of UNITE HERE left that union and joined SEIU. The remaining 265,000 members of UNITE HERE reaffiliated with the AFL–CIO on September 16, 2009.
The Laborers' International Union of North America said it would also leave Change to Win and rejoin the AFL–CIO on August 13, 2010. LIUNA officials did not immediately explain their reasons, but AFL–CIO officials said the reaffiliation would be formalized in October 2010.
On August 8, 2013, the United Food and Commercial Workers announced that they would be leaving Change to Win and re-affiliating with the AFL–CIO.
On January 8, 2025, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) announced that they are reuniting with the AFL-CIO, bringing the total membership of the AFL-CIO to nearly 15 million members.
On January 9, 2009, national news media reported that five of the seven CtW unions had met with seven of the largest unions in the AFL–CIO in talks which explored the possibility of the five CtW unions rejoining the larger labor federation. Impetus for the talks came as the Obama administration signalled to both labor federations that it preferred to deal with a united rather than fragmented labor movement. Also, several Change to Win unions also concluded that they were not getting any significant advantage from being in a separate labor federation, and that a fragmented labor union was doing more harm than good. David Bonior, a former US Congressman who once led the AFL–CIO's American Rights at Work division and who was a member of Barack Obama's presidential transition team, facilitated the meeting, and said talks were scheduled to last several weeks. The five CtW unions present included the Laborers, SEIU, the Teamsters, UFCW, and UNITE HERE. AFL–CIO unions present included AFSCME, the AFT, the Electrical Workers, the UAW, and the United Steelworkers. Also in attendance was Dennis Van Roekel, president of the National Education Association, which is independent and belongs to neither group.