The Alliance for Labor Action (ALA) was an American and Canadian national trade union center which existed from July 1968 until January 1972.
[5] Reuther was particularly impressed that Fitzsimmons had been the only other national labor leader present at the funeral of Martin Luther King, Jr.[3][5] On July 24, 1968, just days after the UAW disaffiliation, Fitzsimmons and Reuther formed the Alliance for Labor Action to organize unorganized workers and pursue leftist political and social projects.
[6][7] While Reuther himself remained active in the ALA, Fitzsimmons assigned Teamsters leader Harold J. Gibbons as his union's liaison.
[11] The ALA's founding split the American Federation of Teachers, which debated joining but never formally considered such an act.
[13] The two member unions provided the ALA with an annual budget of $4.5 million, the same amount they would have paid to the AFL-CIO in per capita dues.
[2] The ALA program turned into a grant-making operation working through the UAW's existing structure, awarding more than $2.5 million in funds in two and a half years.
[1][7][18][19] The trade union center also supported universal health care, and gave an important early boost to modern efforts to pass federal legislation on the issue.