AFL-CIO's Fred Redmond on the Convention, AI and America at 250

Fred Redmond, Secretary-Treasurer of the AFL-CIO, joined the America's Work Force Union Podcast the day before America's 250th anniversary to reflect on the state of the labor movement and the country it helped build.

Redmond described the 30th AFL-CIO Constitutional Convention in Minneapolis as the best he has attended since 2006. The convention set a goal of organizing 2 million new union members — a floor, not a ceiling. It also brought a serious reckoning with artificial intelligence. Workers testified about AI's negative impact on their jobs. A separate panel explored how AI can improve work, but only when workers have a voice in how it's implemented.

Redmond also addressed income inequality, now at its highest level since the Federal Reserve began tracking household wealth in 1989. He spoke to the accountability crisis facing politicians who campaign on labor support, then govern against it. His message to workers heading into the midterms was simple: stay in the fight.

• The 30th AFL-CIO Constitutional Convention in Minneapolis set a goal of organizing 2 million new union members in the coming years — a target Redmond described as the floor rather than the ceiling. He noted the federation surpassed its previous convention's goal of 1 million members and that current enthusiasm suggests the new goal is similarly achievable. Redmond called it the best convention he has attended since he began going in 2006.
• The AFL-CIO's official position on artificial intelligence is not opposition but conditionality: the federation opposes using AI to eliminate or alter jobs without workers at the table in those decisions. They argue that workers are the people who best understand their own workplaces and how productivity can be genuinely improved. The convention featured both worker testimony about AI's negative effects and a panel discussion on how AI can improve jobs when implemented with worker voice — a contrast Redmond said the federation deliberately drew to avoid being caught flat-footed on a rapidly evolving issue.
• CBS News reported that the top 1 percent of U.S. households owned 31.7 percent of all wealth in the third quarter of 2025. This is the highest share since the Federal Reserve began tracking the data in 1989. The top 1 percent holds roughly as much in assets as the bottom 90 percent of Americans combined, a gap Redmond said reflects workers not receiving the fruits of their labor as productivity rises while wages stagnate. He also addressed Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger's veto of collective bargaining legislation for public-sector workers after AFL-CIO leaders left a campaign meeting believing they had her full support. He called it a cautionary example of why the federation will not endorse any candidate without full confidence in their commitment to a worker agenda.

The Best Convention in Two Decades

Fred Redmond has been attending AFL-CIO conventions since 2006. The 30th Constitutional Convention in Minneapolis, by his assessment, was the best he had seen. The energy in the hall reflected something he said is happening across the labor movement right now: workers understand what is at stake, they view the AFL-CIO as a trusted source of information and a proven vehicle for fighting back. They are ready to act on this understanding.

The convention's signature commitment is to organize 2 million new union members over the next several years. Redmond was careful about how he framed that number. Two million is the floor. The federation set a goal of 1 million new members at its 2022 convention and surpassed it. With the enthusiasm currently visible across the labor movement, Redmond said he believes 2 million is similarly achievable — and may even underestimate what is possible.

Income Inequality at a 35-Year High

The economic backdrop driving the union organizing energy is stark. CBS News reported that in the third quarter of 2025, the top 1 percent of U.S. households owned 31.7 percent of all wealth. This is the highest concentration of wealth since the Federal Reserve began tracking household wealth in 1989. The top 1 percent held roughly as much in assets, roughly $55 trillion, as the bottom 90 percent of Americans combined.

Redmond connected this directly to what workers are experiencing in their daily lives. Wages are not keeping pace with productivity. The wealth workers create every day for their employers is accruing to billionaires and corporations with minimal consideration for the people doing the work. Social Security and Medicare protections are under threat. Overtime protections have not materialized. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) protections are being stripped away. Workers, Redmond said, are fed up, and that frustration is translating into union interest at a rate that makes the 2 million-member goal look conservative.

Artificial Intelligence: Not Opposition — Conditionality

The convention's most forward-looking discussions centered on artificial intelligence. The AFL-CIO has made significant investments in personnel and resources to ensure it is not caught flat-footed on the issue, and Redmond described the federation's position with precision. He said it is not opposed to AI, but opposed to using AI against workers without including them in the decisions that affect their jobs and workplaces.

The workers who best understand how a workplace functions and how productivity can genuinely be improved are the people doing the work. Using AI to eliminate or transform jobs without their voice at the table is, in the AFL-CIO's view, exactly the wrong application of the technology. The convention featured worker testimony about AI's negative effects — job losses, surveillance and degraded working conditions — alongside a panel discussion on how AI can improve work when implemented with worker input. Redmond said the federation deliberately drew that contrast, refusing to be positioned as simply opposed to technology while also refusing to pretend the risks are not real.

What Happened to the Party That Once Backed Workers

Redmond accepted an invitation from AWF host Ed “Flash” Ferenc to reflect on history. In 1956, the Republican Party platform under President Eisenhower explicitly supported labor unions and collective bargaining, celebrated workers as the creators of American wealth and committed to expanding Social Security, unemployment compensation and retirement benefits. Now, 70 years later, Redmond said, that party is unrecognizable — not just from Eisenhower's era but from Ronald Reagan's. The current iteration, in his assessment, has placed millionaires, billionaires and corporate CEOs at the center of its agenda and shown, in his words, total disdain for working families. He acknowledged the Democratic Party has changed as well — both parties have moved to extremes while most of America sits in the middle.

The Spanberger Warning: Accountability or Nothing

The clearest example of the accountability problem Redmond described came from Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, who campaigned with AFL-CIO support after a meeting in which union leaders helped design the collective bargaining legislation they expected her to sign. They left that meeting, Redmond said, with what they understood to be her full commitment. She then vetoed the legislation. He attributed this complete reversal to pressure from the Chamber of Commerce and the business community once she was in office.

The AFL-CIO's response was institutional. Going into the current election cycle, the federation is not taking a position based on party. It will only support candidates — Democrat, Republican or independent — who demonstrate a full, confident commitment to a worker agenda such as passing the PRO Act, including working families in federal decision-making and making labor a first priority on their legislative agenda, not an afterthought. The Spanberger situation is the cautionary tale that explains why the standard is set where it is.

A Message for the 250th

Redmond closed with a message calibrated for the moment. America's 250th anniversary falls on a day when the country built by workers is being governed in ways many of those workers find unrecognizable. He did not tell listeners to be cheerful about that. He told them not to get discouraged or at least not to let discouragement knock them out of the fight.

The midterm elections are the first concrete opportunity to begin curbing an agenda that is not benefiting working families. Electing politicians with a true commitment to working families is the step that matters most right now, and staying engaged through that election is the work that needs to be done.

More information on the AFL-CIO is available at aflcio.org.

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