The head of the AFL-CIO said Thursday the 12.5-million-member worker federation has set a goal of organizing 1 million new workers over the next decade as she called for changes to U.S. labor laws to make it easier to unionize.

"This is the moment because we have so much momentum," President Elizabeth Shuler told reporters at a breakfast Thursday ahead of the U.S. Labor Day holiday Monday, citing a number of organizing victories. "We have working people standing up taking risks."

In 2021, U.S. union membership declined to 14 million workers, covering 10.3% of the workforce — down from 10.8% in 2020.