Since the disclosure last year that some AFL-CIO union presidents enriched themselves by insider stock trading through the union-controlled Union Labor Life Insurance Company, the AFL-CIO has been under pressure from many of its members to become more accountable to the working men and women who pay union dues. Rank-and-file dissidents also oppose the practice by most AFL-CIO unions having delegates select top officers at periodic conventions, rather through open elections that include all union members -- a practice that has repeatedly been found to strangle democracy within unions.

When the AFL-CIO Executive Council -- including it's secretive Executive Committee -- meets at Chicago's Drake Hotel beginning on August 5, a group of rank-and-file union members will attempt to address these issues with the leadership. Union members from across the country will bring a list of questions and grievances that will challenge leadership to expand internal union democracy from the shop floor up, end the practice of 'cooperating' with management, step up efforts to organize the unorganized, fight more aggressively for the unemployed, and allow rank and file members to rebuild a fighting labor movement in the U.S. Read more.

Breaking News: Labor journalist kicked out of Drake Hotel after AFL-CIO leadership accuses him of being 'security risk.' Read more.

Photos: Rank And File Picket AFL-CIO Execs at the Drake

Related Links:

National Rank and File Labor Conference | Rank and File AFL-CIO | Labor Action Coalition