The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations mission is to improve the lives of working families in the United States, bring fairness and dignity to the workplace and secure social and economic equity. It works via the American labor movement and accomplishes its mission by organizing workers representing all walks of life into unions. The organization also provides a political voice to its more than 13 million members, who collectively constitute a voluntary federation of 58 national and international labor unions, including groups of teachers, teamsters, musicians, miners, firefighters, farmers, bakers, bottlers, engineers, editors, pilots, doctors, nurses and painters. The AFL-CIO was founded in 1955 with the merger of the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations. It is governed by a quadrennial convention of elected union delegates and is headquartered in Washington, D.C.