Women’s National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA) has become the latest union to affiliate with the AFL-CIO, the union federation announced Feb. 9. With 144 members, it may also be the smallest.
Founded in 1998, WNBPA was the first U.S. labor union of professional women athletes. It represents all players on the 12 teams of the WNBA.
WNBPA’s affiliation brings the total number of AFL-CIO affiliates to 59, and four of those are now unions of professional athletes. NFL Players Association was long an AFL-CIO affiliate, but National Women’s Soccer League Players Association joined in 2021, and the Major League Baseball Players Association affiliated with the AFL-CIO last September.
