Or so it seems. Reports from the convention are that the four largest unions-SEIU,Teamsters,UFCW and UNITE-HERE will not be around tomorrow as the AFL-CIO convention begins in Chicago.
More below the fold....
From Johnathan Tasini's workinglife.org;
Four Unions Going Home: 10:40
Yup. The four unions--UFCW (as I reported just a few minutes ago), Teamsters, UNITE HERE and SEIU--will not attend the convention that opens tomorrow. The Laborers will likely stay at the convention--but, as I said, there is a very contentious building trades meeting going on now.
This was pretty clear this morning: as one person from the Coalition said, "let's just get this over with and go back to work.
So, what does this mean? The big question I think, in the short term, is how does Sweeney handle the issue before the delegates, from a monetary standpoint? Forget all the rhetoric about splits being good or bad.
But, the four walkers have already not paid per capita for the last two months (an early sign that they were thinking of walking). There has to be a coming to terms with the huge shortfall the Federation will face--potentially as much as $30 million--if the Change To Win coalition unions end up disaffiliating, as a group or one by one.
Will one or more delegates stand up at the convention and ask: "President Sweeney, do you have a plan for the likely event that the Federation will face a large hole in its budget? And does that plan include asking for a large per capita increase for those unions staying in the Federation?"
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I'm extremely torn about this issue as a labor activist. While I fear what might happen on the ground, i.e. internal labor battles,raiding etc. I know that those AFL unions who are blind to reality must change or perish. Quite simply, if you believe that workers should continue with the AFL-CIO as the flagship, you are simply on the wrong side of history.
Let us not forget that the AFL-CIO is essentially an organization born out of the McCarthy era. Labor consolidation and reform came in 1955 as a condition of organized labors continued existence.
Since the AFL-CIO came to be, labor, at least in terms of the percentage of workers in the workforce has declined. There are many reasons for that, and both sides of the argument have some liabilitys.
So while one might fret what will happen next, we know, historically that when there are competing labor organizations-workers generally win. Already I see attacks among unions on each other. Talking about corrupt or incompetent leadership that has safetly hide behind the status quo. Will a more pure-idealogical labor movement arise? I hope so.
In the meantime, I'm going to the garage to find my old Rusty Staub, autograghed Louisville Slugger.
NEXT STOP......NATIONAL HEALTHCARE!!!!!!!