2026 AFL-CIO Convention: Delegates plan a unionized future

SMART members across the United States frequently read the letters “AFL-CIO.” Whether on endorsements for political candidates or at their local union hall, those letters are visible throughout the labor movement. But many members may not know exactly what they represent.

They stand for the American Federation of Labor – Congress of Industrial Organizations, and they signify the full power and potential of our movement.

The AFL-CIO is the federation of SMART and 64 fellow labor unions, representing 15 million workers across the United States: building data centers, operating freight trains and public transit, working in grocery stores and hotels, and taking on the countless other jobs that make our society run.

And from June 7-10, 2026, affiliated unions of the AFL-CIO, including SMART, came together for the federation’s convention in Minneapolis, Minn.: charting a path forward for our movement and strategizing on how we can secure a UNIONIZED future. Led by General President Michael Coleman, who also served on the AFL-CIO’s Constitution Committee, SMART delegates attended to bring the voice of sheet metal and transportation members to the largest gathering of organized labor in our nation.

“What we do here will chart the course for what our union will be marching towards over the next five years,” said SMART Railroad, Mechanical and Engineering Department Director Peter Kennedy at the beginning of the convention.

Building an economy for workers

There are 15 million workers represented in the AFL-CIO, ranging from sheet metal workers to railroaders to university professors to custodians. That means that our unions have some differences. But as General President Coleman often says, we have much more in common with each other than we do with the elites trying to destroy our movement.

That fact was front and center throughout the 2026 convention.

One example: A resolution titled “We Refuse To Be Divided” focused on counteracting the strategy that has been used against the labor movement since workers first organized — divide and conquer. Corporate elites and their allies in government attack unions and workers relentlessly, trying to convince Americans to blame each other for the challenges we face: high prices, unfairness at work and beyond. This has been especially true recently, with the rich and powerful using immigration as an issue to divide the American people. The We Refuse To Be Divided resolution committed the AFL-CIO to a different path, uniting ALL workers in the fight for justice and power.

General President Coleman spoke in favor of the resolution, describing SMART’s fight for due process for Kilmar Abrego Garcia and all members, and urging delegates to stand up for fellow workers in the face of division.

“SMART strongly endorses this resolution,” Coleman declared to applause on the convention floor. “Because every worker deserves justice, fairness and due process. And because we refused to be divided.”

The resolution passed unanimously.

Other resolutions passed by delegates committed the AFL-CIO to be a fighting federation — not just reacting to attacks, but proactively organizing new members, building worker power and changing the nature of politics. Resolutions dedicated the federation to building a worker-first democracy; creating coalitions and community partnerships to strengthen workers; reaffirming the labor movement’s fight for civil rights; committing to good, union jobs on data centers (without sacrificing communities or providing giveaways to corporate elites); building up state labor federations and central labor councils; protecting veterans’ health care and their jobs in the federal government; and many more. 

In addition to resolutions and amendments, delegates also reelected Liz Shuler as president and Fred Redmond as secretary-treasurer of the federation, as well as the slate of 55 AFL-CIO vice presidents that includes General President Coleman.

A commitment to building power

One of the most valuable parts of every AFL-CIO Convention is the opportunity it gives SMART and other union leaders to come together, learn from one another and build power across our industry. At the 2026 convention, attendees heard from legendary farmworker organizer Dolores Huerta, community and labor activists who built resilient coalitions in the Twin Cities, NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson, leaders of labor federations in Somalia, the United Kingdom and Canada, and many others.

“You want our votes, you want our money, you want our support? We need your commitments in advance,” said Huerta in remarks about the importance of winning real support from political candidates.

Delegates also strategized on putting solidarity into action during a variety of panels, which focused on themes like rebuilding the American maritime and shipbuilding industry, the labor movement’s plan to elect pro-worker candidates (regardless of party), winning real, pro-worker labor law, and much more.

A recurring theme throughout the convention was artificial intelligence. SMART and the labor movement are in no way opposed to technology and innovation; in fact, many sheet metal members are building the data centers powering the AI revolution. What we are opposed to is technology used for exploitation. When AI is used for surveillance, exploitation and corporate profit — and when data centers are built using low-road contractors and funded by corporate tax giveaways — all workers and families suffer, whether they’re working on the railroad or in grocery stores.

That’s why the AFL-CIO committed to using the collective power of the labor movement to win real guardrails on artificial intelligence: ensuring, as SMART has done throughout our union’s history, that technology is used to help workers, not abuse them.

SMART leaders and their fellow delegates covered a lot of ground over the four days of the convention. But in the end, we committed to one historic, all-important mission: building a new economy that works for people who actually work for a living.

“This is the moment, right now, that will define our future,” said AFL-CIO President Shuler at the convention’s close. “I feel urgency, and I feel excitement to, as we say, get this sh*t done.”