House of Labor:
The AFL-CIO was set to rupture on the eve of its 50th anniversary celebration, as two of its largest and most important unions, the Service Employees and the Teamsters, said they will formally withdraw from the labor federation and two others announced a boycott.
The SEIU and the Teamsters, representing more than 3.2 million workers between them, plan to promote a rival group, the Change to Win coalition, as an alternative to grow the ranks of organized workers.
The SEIU voted late last night to disaffiliate. The executive board of the Teamsters plans a disaffiliation vote later this morning, according to several sources with knowledge of the situation.
The two unions plan a joint press conference to announce their withdrawal early this afternoon.
Their departure would plunge an already strapped AFL-CIO into a deep financial trouble as it begins its 51st year as the umbrella federation for organized labor in the U.S. The SEIU, Teamsters and a third union, the United Food and Commercial Workers, are already delinquent in their dues to the federation. The AFL-CIO has laid off more than 100 headquarters employees and plans to raise per-worker union dues by eight cents.
Word of the impending departure of these unions came as four founding members of the Change To Win group - SEIU, Teamsters, the Food and Commercial Workers and UniteHere, decided to formally boycott the AFL-CIO convention, which will culminate Friday in the expected re-election of John Sweeney as president.
The SEIU's decision to leave is not a surprise. Its president, Andrew Stern, had threatened for more than a year to bolt unless Sweeney stepped down or agreed to dramatically reorient the labor federation's priorities. The Teamsters, led by James Hoffa, had formed the Change To Win coalition with Stern and several other unions, but Hoffa enjoys better relations with AFL-CIO leaders and was expected initially to take more time before deciding whether to leave the federation. He remains a widely respected figure in the labor movement and his departure is likely to be seen as more consequential than Stern's.
At this writing, two other founding members of Change To Win, UFCW and Unite Here unions had no plans as of Sunday to vote to leave today, according to officials from both groups. "We will make a decision in a short period of time," said Joe Hansen of UFCW. "Our union will keep its options open," said John Wilhelm of UniteHere.
Executive boards for both unions plan to meet again before the week is out, and labor officials expect the UFCW to announce its departure as early as today.
The Laborers International Union, another member of Change To Win, plans to stay in the labor federation.
Change To Win, which counts seven unions as members, will convene a meeting today of presidents and organizing directors to discuss how to cooperate on industry-wide organizing campaigns and political projects.
"The debate is over," said Anna Burger, Change To Win's chair and the SEIU Secretary-Treasurer. "Today will be the beginning of the rebirth of union strength."
Reaction to the expected disaffiliation and to the convention boycotts was swift and bitter in some quarters.
"It's a shame for working people that before the first vote has been cast, four unions have decided that if they can't win, they won't show up for the game," Sweeney said in a statement. "SEIU, UNITE / HERE, the Teamsters and UFCW should come argue for their ideas and listen to others. That's how democracies work."
Harold Schaitburger, the president of the International Association of Fire Fighters, said he was frustrated that the Change To Win coalition appeared to have settled on Sweeney's impending re-election as the sticking point.
"We've embraced enough of their principles. They can claim victory if they want. But they don't get to run the deal," he said.
The SEIU's Berger, speaking later at a press conference, said, "To their credit, the AFL-CIO has listened but they have not heard."
Leo Girard, the president of the Steelworkers, called it "tragic" and said the split would "weaken the House of Labor."
"Shame on them," he said to cheers at a rally for Sweeney.
Other leaders were more reflective.
Gerald McEntee, the AFSCME President, predicted that it would weaken labor's political program for down ballot races and it make more difficult to coordinate get-out-the-vote programs. But, he said, "No union has ever left the AFL-CIO and not rejoined."
The scene in Chicago this weekend had a labor-esque Hatfield and McCoy feel to it.
The AFL-CIO and the Change to Win unions have taken over separate hotels within a stone's throw of each other but divided by the Chicago River.
Delegates spouted separate slogans and wore competing tee shirts.
There were backchannel negotiations to come to a last minute rapprochement. They failed.
When change to Win leaders picked up rumors that AFL-CIO delegates would storm the stage during their late afternoon press conference Sunday, they stationed burly Teamsters at the door to keep out intruders.
A symbolic coda: yesterday was the hottest day of the year in the Windy City.
The New York Times' Steven Greenhouse Notes that the "The schism is the biggest rift in labor since the 1930's, when the Congress of Industrial Organizations, which was trying to unionize mass production workers in automobiles, steel and other industries, split off from the American Federation of Labor, which largely represented elite craft workers. This week's labor convention here was supposed to be a celebratory occasion marking the 50th anniversary of the merger." LINK
Ron Fournier writes of Change to Win, "Without directly saying so, coalition leaders seemed to be establishing the group as a newly minted rival of the AFL-CIO."
He also Notes, "The boycott means the unions will not pay $7 million in back dues to the AFL-CIO on Monday. If all four boycotting unions quit the federation, they would take about $35 million a year from the estimated $120 million annual budget of the AFL-CIO, which has already been forced to layoff a quarter of its 400-person staff." LINK
Reports Tom Edsall in the Washington Post, "The decision to boycott the convention angered leaders and ranking officials of the unions that plan to remain in the federation. Edward J. McElroy, president of the American Federation of Teachers, accused Stern and his allies of bargaining in bad faith. 'Their stance was that unless you agree with their position, they won't make an agreement,' he said. R. Thomas Buffenbarger, president of the Machinists, said Stern and other dissidents 'showed total disrespect for their colleagues who sat through the negotiations.'" LINK