We’re just 12 days away from the AFL-CIO Executive Council meeting in Las Vegas (Feb 28th-March 3rd). Hard to know whether there will be a knock-down, dragged-out fight, with one or more internationals declaring they are leaving the Federation and someone stepping forward to announce he or she is running for AFL-CIO President at the July convention–or a grand compromise. So, I’ll begin to pass along what I hear and some of my own thinking.

I hear from a pretty reliable source that inside 16th Street (for the geographic, outside-the-Beltway virgins, that would be the AFL-CIO headquarters) there’s a general acceptance of (or, perhaps resignation to) the idea to rebate 50 percent of Federation dues back to international unions that use the money to organize.

My question is: who’s going to set the criteria of what is considered new organizing (as opposed to growth through mergers) and who is going to judge whether internationals meet whatever rule of thumb is set for budget dollars committed to organizing. For example, SEIU’s proposal had argued the rebated unions have to devote “at least 10% of their national union revenue for organizing and uniting more workers in their particular industry, sector, or craft by 2006, 15% in 2008, and at least 20% beginning in 2010. Their local unions would have to be using at least 10% of their income for this purpose by 2008 and at least 15% by 2010.” Who the heck is going to police that?

Any ideas?