I came out to sunny Los Angeles to take part in a one-day conference on Wal-Mart put on by the UCLA Labor Center (more on that in a future post). But, while I’ve been out here, there’s been a very interesting behind-the-scenes maneuvering at the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. The apparent end result may be a good thing for progressive labor efforts in L.A. and an interesting relationship to watch between labor and the newly-elected Antonio Villaraigosa.

About a month ago, the previous head of the Fed Miguel Contreras died suddenly, leaving a huge hole to fill in labor’s leadership. On Tuesday, the Fed’s executive board unanimously chose City Councilman Martin Ludlow to fill Contreras’ spot; the Fed’s delegates are expected to ratify the choice on June 20th, making Ludlow the first African-American to lead the Fed. Behind the scenes, a number of labor leaders worked to head off a bid for the post by more conservative elements of the Fed.

Ludlow once worked for the mayor-elect when Villaraigosa was an Assemblyman and they remain very close. The question is: will their close relationship mean an interesting experiment where labor can actually try to influence the economic priorities of a huge metropolis?

The first thing Ludlow will have to figure out is how to repair some open wounds from the inexplicable endorsement by the Fed of Villasaigosa’s opponent, James Hahn, the now-defeated mayor, who was a political hack–and a boring one at that (in my book, you get points if you’re a hack with charisma). It was clear that Hahn was going down and labor had no business embracing him.

Anyway, this is a story to watch in the next few years.