The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) has just voted to leave the AFL-CIO. That’s no surprise–I had written earlier in the week that they would leave the Federation.

That mean’s the Federation will lose another $7.35 million in per capita taxes. If you add that to the already lost per capita with the disaffiliation of SEIU and the Teamsters, the Federation will lose between $25-$27 million–out of a $126 million budget–meaning a more than a quarter of the budget is gone.

For several weeks, I have suggested that the budget presented to the Executive Council was not realistic given the clear indication that one or more large affiliates would leave the Federation. I am perplexed that the officers of the Federation would not at least give the delegates a sense of what was to come, though John Sweeney did say, on the last day of the convention that the disaffiliations of SEIU and the Teamsters “will significantly impact” the Federation’s finances.

Obviously, more deep staff cuts are on the horizon. The question will be: where will those staff cuts be made? In the last round of cuts, top managers were spared.

Having said that, while this is not a happy situation for the Federation, it might force a broader rexamination of the proper role of the Federation. More on that soon.