It’s 4:30 and there’s about to be a sit-down between John Sweeney and Jim Hoffa. Sweeney will try to sway Hoffa but I don’t think Hoffa will bite. I don’t think Sweeney really understands the depth of frustration with the bureaucracy at 16th Street. Take the Firefighters—they are not part of the rebels but if you read their proposal, they are certainly not happy with the way the money is being spent at the Federation.

As far as I can tell, Sweeney’s proposal would CUT the investment in organizing from $22 million to $15 million, while investing more in politics. From where I sit, and I’ve been harping on this for a couple of weeks, spending more on politics with fewer union members is a strategy doomed to fail. Wait. It already has failed.

Tonight, the general presidents of the “rebel” unions will meet to take stock. There is one rumor floating around that SEIU will announce tomorrow or Thursday that it is pulling out of the AFL-CIO. Whether it happens that quickly is not important—if the Federation doesn’t appear to make radical changes, SEIU will be out sooner rather than later. And, depending on how things shake out between now and the convention, the Teamsters may follow.