The Service Employees International Union is rejoining the AFL-CIO after 20 years. The union groups' executive boards each unanimously approved the combination on Wednesday. They plan to formally announce the affiliation at a Thursday roundtable in Austin, Texas. Both AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler and SEIU President April Verrett were careful to say that the combination was not a consequence of Republican Donald Trump winning the November election and returning to the White House. But their shared goal is to be a political presence in a Trump-dominated Washington that has at times courted organized labor without necessarily backing the policies on wages, overtime and unionization that the movement’s leadership has supported.
