It’s just as warm and humid here in Chicago so it’s not much of an escape from the thick soup in New York. But, you don’t want to hear a weather report. Alright, down to business…
This is the time when the pressure heats up a bit and we see whether any movement is made. This morning, the Executive Council meets at the Sheraton Hotel (which, for picture’s sake, sits along the river here in the Windy City). Last night, the principals and closest advisors of the Change To Win coalition met for a long dinner to review their game plan.
Says one: “We’re not going to be here on Monday [the opening of the convention] if there isn’t some deal.” At this point, four of the unions–SEIU, UFCW, UNITE-HERE and Teamsters–have given authorization to their officers to make a decision to disaffiliate from the Federation (the most recent decision coming from the Teamsters executive board on Wednesday night). They already are behind in their per capita payments, having not sent checks to the Federation for the past two months.
According to this person, “the vibe in our group is very energetic and the vibe on their side is despondent.” Well, having just arrived this afternoon (after a hellish trip…you don’t want to know), I can’t say I’ve gotten a feel for the Sweeney camp’s mood (though I did see AFSCME’s Gerry McEntee striding across the street with a small entourage around dinner time).
According to this person, there has been a proposal floated that there would be a nine-month succession period–John Sweeney serves that period and, then, steps down. But, that has been rejected by the insurgents.
On a different front, the agitation from the leaders of Central Labor Councils continues. A group of them have a meeting scheduled today with AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka to push a proposal which would give CLCs, particularly in low union-density states, dedicated staff. Where would that staff come from? The political budget. Here’s a copy of the proposal that has been circulated among key CLC leaders.
I also got an actual copy of the resolution passed by the Denver Labor council, which is similar to other resolutions passed by CLCs, which basically says “we want to work with any union who wants to be part of our CLC.” This matters to real-live functioning councils because the big affiliates contribute a lot of money and energy to organizing and political mobilization. But, the resolution also is a challenge to Sweeney’s position that no union that is outside the AFL-CIO can belong to the Federation’s central labor bodies–which I’ve said before is a short-sighted position.
I also hear that Trumka has been trying to round up CLC endorsers for the Sweeney program and budget but has been getting a lot of “no thank-yous.” But, I’ll check up on that with the man himself.
A colleague, Juan Gonzalez of the Daily News, raised an interesting, if small, point in his column yesterday. If SEIU pulls out of the Federation before Sweeney’s re-election, Sweeney, an SEIU member (and past president before he took the Federation post) may have to find another union to take him on in order for him to be eligible to run for office–a candidate for office has to belong to a union belonging to the Federation at the time of his or her nomination. Personally, I’d go with the Screen Actors Guild–guaranteed seat at the Oscars.
