what was the american federation of labor
The American Federation of Labor (AFL) was a national federation of labor unions in the United States.It was founded in Columbus, Ohio, in May 1886 by an alliance of craft unions disaffected from the Knights of Labor, a national labor association.n 1955, the AFL merged with its longtime rival, the Congress of Industrial Organizations, to form the AFL-CIO, a federation which remains in place to this day. Together with the new union, the AFL has comprised the longest lasting and most influential labor federation in the United States.