Portside

The AFL-CIO held a closed-door executive council meeting last week. The mood at the meeting, one AFL-CIO top staffer said, was that the future of the labor movement was at risk if they continued "business as usual."

"The A.F.L.-C.I.O., the nation’s largest federation of unions, has issued an apparent endorsement of the Keystone XL oil pipeline," writes Steven Greenhouse in the NY Times. Following the NY Times' article, Portside gives you the federation's official statement followed by the official AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department's unequivocal interpretation of the AFL-CIO Executive Council's decision.

The Center for Media and Democracy says the Pennsylvania effort is part of a nationwide campaign against unions by right-wing business groups, such as the Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity and the Tea Party organization FreedomWorks.

The AFL-CIO expects 22 states to consider restrictions to the bargaining process, such as preventing particular types of government employees from joining bargaining units, this year.