Who says Bush and Boeing are all bad for labor? You have to give them credit for this: they are showing that, despite all the huffing and puffing after the AFL-CIO convention, unity is possible between the two national labor federations.

Yesterday, three union presidents–Carpenters’ President Doug McCarron, Laborers President Terry O-Sullivan and Operating Engineers President Vincent Giblin–sent a letter to House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist attacking Bush’s decision to repeal Davis-Bacon prevailing wage laws for the Katrina-struck areas. Just as aside, I’ll have more to say about the Bush attack on workers post-Katrina later today.

The laborology here is interesting: you’ve got McCarron, who has been outside the AFL-CIO for sometime and is part of the Change To Win coalition hooking up with O’Sullivan, who has a foot in both camps as a member of Change To Win yet still (for now) affiliated with the AFL-CIO, and Giblin who is a tried-and-true member of the AFL-CIO. So, again, a positive sign that, when the enemy is clear, we have adult behavior triumphing over leg-lifting.

And, over on the picket lines against Boeing, where more than 18,000 machinists have been on strike for almost two weeks, Change To Win is going to join the picket lines tomorrow morning. None other than Anna Burger, the national chairperson of Change to Win and secretary-treasurer of SEIU is going to head up the picket and also announce a large financial contribution to support the strike. In the press release, she says, “Working people know that if a company as profitable as Boeing can skimp on retirement and health care, everyone’s future is at risk.”

This is even bigger adult behavior. Those of you who have long memories–that would be a few months–may remember that the president of the Machinists, Tom Buffenbarger, annointed himself as chief attack-dog against the Change To Win unions prior to the AFL-CIO convention. He penned a series of pretty wild letters, the target of which invariably turned out to be Andy Stern, explicitly or implicitly. It was pretty tough stuff.

So, if we’re looking for good signs, again, that as time passes, the emotionalism of “the split” will fade and we’ll all get done to the business of fighting real enemies, here’s another one. I’m not sure who initiated the strike solidarity effort–and it doesn’t matter. It’s a good thing and kudos to CTW and IAM for coming together.

I’ll do as much as possible to highlight these cooperative efforts.