The new salvo from the insurgents will be available for your reading pleasure at 1 p.m. today!!! A few tidbits ’til then:

• All five of the insurgent unions (Laborers, SEIU, UNITE-HERE, UFCW and Teamsters) are on-board for the program; the UFCW will put out a letter of support pending approval of its Executive Board.
• At least UNITE-HERE and SEIU will specifically say that John Sweeney cannot lead the Federation out of the current morass; others may make that statement, too, and the UFCW will, at least, reject the program issued by the Sweeney camp as inadequate.
• There will be a direct appeal to the labor movement across the nation by the insurgents. The proposals will be sent, with a cover letter signed by all five unions presidents, to 26,000 locals and state federations.
• There is a bit more talk about the “what if” the insurgents don’t prevail. Though I’m not predicting a mass disaffiliation, one insurgent insider says, “With 5 of us and the Carpenters [already outside the AFL-CIO] that’s 5.5 million members. May be enough if things don’t work out for a viable Federation.”

One thing to keep in mind. On each side, there are proposals that need a two-thirds vote to pass at the July convention—a margin no one has, without a compromise or shift in the forces. The Sweeney proposals wants to make permanent the temporary 8 cent increase (from 53 to 61 cents) assessment for politics into a permanent per capita increase; the insurgents wants changes in Article XX and XXI which deal with organizing jurisdictions and raiding.