Today, the International Labor Communications Association put down its marker on one aspect of the debate–at its convention, which is taking place today and tomorrow in Chicago, the ILCA approved an amendment to its constitution that allows unions not affiliated with the AFL-CIO to belong to the ILCA.

Here’s what the amendment says: “Associate membership in the ILCA shall be open to the following: Regular print, internet, broadcast, video or electronic publications and productions of national and international unions, and their locals, not affiliated with the AFL-CIO or CLC. However, the publications and productions of such unions may petition for full membership; their petition will be considered accepted by a majority vote of the full Executive Council.”

Good for the ILCA. As I’ve stated numerous times, the push to exclude non-affiliated unions from local central labor bodies makes no sense to me–and it’s certainly sparked agitation from CLC leaders who are pushing here in Chicago to get John Sweeney to back off his campaign to enforce the shunning of non-affiliated unions. Maybe everyone could learn from communicators, who have a good feel for how things play in peoples’ minds, how this shunning effort looks.