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- In September 2013, the AFL-CIO, a giant labor federation comprising fifty-six unions and 12.5 million U.S. workers, held its quadrennial convention in Los Angeles. There was plenty of what one might expect from such a gathering: lapel pins and hats with jaunty slogans, rousing speeches, and middle-aged toughs talking working-class politics. There was also a parade of low-wage workers, none of them formally members of the AFL-CIO. Immigrant nannies, Walmart clerks, day laborers, and taxi drivers appeared on stage, cheered by a sincere, if slightly flummoxed, union crowd. The intended message was clear: this is the future of the labor movement. Welcome them and pay attention.