It wasn’t Las Vegas but yesterday’s Executive *Committee* meeting sure had the same feeling as the Federation’s March Executive Council meeting. The Executive Committee (which is a subset of the full Council and includes the largest unions but not just the largest unions…which has been a bit of a bone of contention, but that’s another story for some other time) passed a proposed operating budget for the coming year which looks pretty much like the budget outlines agreed to in March. And that may only inflame the passions and push more unions to the brink of leaving the AFL-CIO.

John Sweeney circulated the budget proposal last week. At yesterday’s meeting, AFSCME prez Gerry McEntee moved adoption of the proposal and it passed–pretty much along “party lines.” My two sources with excellent knowledge of how this went down, report that the insurgents–SEIU, Teamsters, Laborers, UFCW and UNITE-HERE–all voted against the budget; they were joined by the United Farm Workers. But, the budget was passed with the votes of all the unions supporting Sweeney’s re-election, including the United Auto Workers, which, back in March, had sided with the insurgents on the proposal on rebates. The budget now goes before the entire Council on June 27th.

The budget contains a huge increase in money dedicated to politics: $45 million. Though I’ve tried to steer clear of stating any opinions on the political race (other than to say that there are bigger issues than who leads the AFL-CIO after July), I’ve been pretty much on the record about the plan to pour even more money, mainly at the federal level, into a political program that has failed: I don’t agree with it.

This increase in money for politics–a McEntee favorite–comes at the expense of money for organizing. I’m still mystified at the logic which attempts to persuade us that you can increase political power BEFORE you increase your numbers. But, what do I know: I just look at the results of the past decade where labor’s political power at the national level has dramatically declined as Democrats have been shellacked.

So, this was pretty much a test vote, if you’re looking down the road to the convention. Besides the practical nature of approving the budget, this vote is a Sweeney message that says, “I have the votes.”

There are two ways to look at that message. On the one hand, it solidifies any potential waverers in the Sweeney camp. That’s a good thing for John S.

But, how good a thing can it be if you may have just further alienated unions that were debating their future in the AFL-CIO? If you’re the insurgents and you’re just about to have a meeting tomorrow to form a new umbrella that could end up being a new labor federation, doesn’t it harden the views of the unions that are contemplating whether to bolt from the AFL-CIO? The unifying, relentless message of the insurgents has been: more money for organizing. The budget of the AFL-CIO says: more money for politics. Check, please.