Okay, my friends, here’s a report from the Change To Win coalition rally. Let’s start up front–it confirms what I reported earlier today: the Teamsters, UNITE HERE, UFCW and SEIU will not attend the convention that begins tomorrow. Tomorrow, they will meet as a coalition to begin to some more meat on the bones of the structure, its plans and budget.

In addition, a letter has been sent to John Sweeney which tells him that the following current vice presidents of the Executive Council–all members of the Coalition–will not accept any nomination for office nor run for re-election at the convention: Stuart Applebaum (RWDSU), Clayola Brown (UNITE HERE), Jack Cipriani (Teamsters), Joe Hansen (UFCW), Jim Hoffa (Teamsters), Terry O-Sullivan (Laborers), Bruce Raynor (UNITE HERE), Dennis Rivera (SEIU), Arturo Rodriquez (Farmworkers), Andy Stern (SEIU) and John Wilhelm (UNITE HERE). So, John Sweeney has 11 slots to fill–it will be interesting to see how gets tapped…will diversity play a role or not?

Back to the rally: it was held in the Hyatt Hotel which is across the river, a bit diagonally, from the Sheraton (and it is ungodly hot here, with the heat index well over 100 degrees). Some Machinists union members tried to crash the party but the coalition prevented them from entering the hall, which was in a lower level ballroom. The crowd was smaller than the earlier pro-Sweeney rally but just as enthusiastic.

The presidents of the unions entered into the hall from the main doorways to rythmic clapping and cheering, mounting a stage up front that held delegates from the 7 unions. Anna Burger, who is the coalition’s chair and secretary-treasurer of SEIU, read an opening statement (the prepared text is pretty close to her delivered remarks with a few minor changes). When she got to the line about the unions not attending the convention, there was loud applause, with about half the hall rising for a standing ovation.

She was followed by Edgar Romney (left), who is the treasurer for the coalition and a vice president of UNITE HERE. He said that he had hoped that the day would not arrive that would force the unions to take this step. Yet, he said: “It certainly is an exciting day. It sort of reminds me when I came into the trade union movement as a young organizer. It was time of hope, a time of aspiration…the labor movement was doing some great things for the labor movement in this country. I would be one of the first to say that this is not going to be an easy job for anyone of us. We still have the same problems before we came to Chicago…we still have difficulty organizing workers.”

Then, the press conference began, with some reporters on the phone. But, man, there were far more reporters and cameras then I’ve ever seen at a labor event in the past 20 years. Anyway, here are the key questions that were asked and the answers (as close to verbatim as possible but certainly accurate as to meaning):

Q: Are all of the four unions leaving the AFL-CIO (asked by Ron Fournier, the political reporter for the Associated Press) and, then followed up by Tom Edsall of the Washington Post.

Answer (the other presidents besides Stern which I reported higher up). John Wilhelm: our union is keeping all of its options open. Our Executive Committee has been authorized…to make the appropriate decisions on this matter as time goes along.” [Meaning, we’re not disaffiliating quite yet but…]. Joe Hansen: “our executive board has authorized the executive committee to disaffiliate from the AFL-CIO when we think the time is appropriate…and we will make that decision in a short period of time.” Hoffa: I will be consulting my executive board tomorrow by telephone. We may have announcement tomorrow.”

Q: Anything that might happen in the next 24 hours that might dissuade from quiting the Federation? (Steve Greenhouse, New York Times)

A: “We have been through a process this week that we have indicated to the AFL-CIO that we are perfectly willing to hear anything they have to say. Our difference are so fundamental and so principled that at this point in time I don’t think there is any chance that there will be a change in course.”

There was a question to the Farmworkers and Laborers why they decided to participate in the convention. Both said they are doing so for different internal reasons–but the reasons should not be interpreted as reflecting any division within the coalition.

The final question capped the rally: Greenhouse asked, referring to the criticism of Steelworkers president Leo Gerard expressed at the earlier pro-Sweeney rally, if Andy Stern had a reaction. Stern: “We’re not trying to divide the labor movement, we’re trying to rebuild it. We have to do everything in our power to do it in a way that works. Leo Gerard and John Sweeney are good trade unionists who share our goals. We will work with them. But when you’re going down a road and it’s headed in the wrong direction and you know where the road ends, you gotta get off the road and walk in a different direction where there’s hope. Today there is hope for American workers.”

After the rally, an AFL-CIO press person handed out a press release with a statement from Sweeney reacting to the decision not to attend the convention.

Odd moment of the rally: seeing Doug Dority, former president of the UFCW, standing and clapping at the rally–just after he had been recognized from the podium at the Sweeney rally by CWA executive veep Larry Cohen. Doug, which side are you on?