Union officials outside the United States worry that last week's AFL-CIO split could damage international union movements. One fear is that the rift could distract the world's largest trade union federation from the training programs it runs for developing countries in Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia. The split also threatens to curtail funding for international labor bodies like the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions.
See "The Workplace: Shock waves of union split cross oceans", Thomas Fuller, International Herald Tribune, August 1, 2005