The sun has just risen here in Vegas as the first official day of the AFL-CIO meeting begins. But, there has already been a massive amount of behind-the-scenes meetings.

All day yesterday, there were a series of official meetings but what was far more interesting were the unofficial meetings. If you remember, the New Unity Partnership, which was the informal group of unions pushing for changes in the labor movement, was made up of SEIU, UNITE-HERE and the Laborers. Now that the NUP has dissolved, a new coalition has formed with the previous NUP group joined by the Teamsters and United Food and Commercial Workers. They know they don’t constitute a majority–by my count, maybe 40 percent of the votes–so the question, at least right now, is not about replacing John Sweeney but figuring out whether they can push enough changes at the AFL-CIO–or do they leave. I’m going to have more details about those meetings later today.

Having said that the “rebels” don’t have a majority to take over (yet), it’s also true that John Sweeney is having a nightmare of a time. Yesterday, for example, his proposal to spend more money on politics was essentially squashed at the Political Committee meeting. We’ll see if he can get it through the full council.

At these meetings, the place to get the best gossip are the receptions. Great moment at the reception for Howard Dean (see pic). The new DNC chair was waiting to be introduced and over comes Gerry McEntee, president of AFSCME, puts his hand on Dean’s shoulder and whispers to him. Couldn’t help but wonder: was Dean thinking, “this is the jerk that called me ‘nuts’ when I was in free-fall during the campaign.”

By the way, Dean took mercy on the crowd, giving a short little rah-rah rap which included the lines: “Labor and the Democratic Party are together whether we like it or not. Whatever happens to the Democratic Party will happen to Labor. Whatever happens to Labor will happen to the Democratic Party.” Of course, I don’t agree that we should be tied together as I’ve written mostly recently in the Los Angeles Times. Karen Ackerman, the AFL-CIO’s political director, does not agree at all—as she made quite clear to me yesterday. Karen and I will duke it out down the road…metaphorically-speaking.

Perhaps the most nervous people here are the AFL-CIO staffers: if a proposal passes to rebate the dues of affiliates, at up to a 50 percent level, 16th Street will see the loss of potentially hundreds of jobs. Last night, as people grazed the finger-food at a reception for Americans for Democratic Action (if you’re under 60, you may not be an ADA member and if you’re under 40 you probably never heard of ’em—but my buddy former Rep. Jim Jontz is doing his best running a fair trade effort), one senior staffer whispered: “We may have a Federation after this week but I don’t know about the week after that.”

Certainly, this has got to be an unprecedented moment–there has never been a real debate about the future of labor in the past few decades. The genie is out of the bottle.

By the way, before I sign off for now and speaking of debate, I got this very adult response to my recent Tom Paine column from Steve Early: “And I suppose you, Jonathan, are a “pontificator” who has organized large numbers of workers????? I’d like to see the list. Blog on baby, it’s easier than organizing–and you’re right in your element, out there in Vegas, among all the other labor commentator/consultant hustlers whose last names begin with T! P.S.–By the way, if you’re inviting others to engage in SEIU butt-kissing, you’re going to have to move over a bit and leave some space for them–stop hogging the best position for kissing Purple behinds!” Steve continues to impress with his insightful analysis of the issues facing workers.