Catchy, huh? Well, that's what greeted me at the crack of dawn here from someone in the know in the insurgents' camp.
Big caution here: It's only Friday and two days is an eternity in labor movement politics. But, on the other hand, a number of people tell me the percentages are quite high that on Sunday afternoon, SEIU, UNITE HERE, UFCW and the Teamsters will announce that they are leaving the Federation.
And, from looking at the long faces of many Sweeney supporters (staff and officers) entering the Executive Council meeting, there seems like a sense of inevitability. "It feels like there isn't anything to talk about," one staffer told me. The Council is expected to meet here at the Sheraton until this afternoon when they break for meetings of the Convention Resolutions and Constitution Committees (more on that in a subsequent post).
"I don't think anyone on our side of the table thinks that Sweeney has the juice to get this done," says a very senior wag. "He doesn't like conflict and he doesn't have the kind of relationship with [AFSCME's prez Gerry] McEntee, [Machinists prez Tom] Buffenbarger or [CWA prez Morty] Bahr to go to them and say, 'look, here's the deal, if I step down, there has to be a whole new leadership team.' Which means Trumka has to go also."
As I reported over the course of many weeks, the insurgents did reach out privately to McEntee, AFT president Ed McElroy and others but none of them wanted to go around Sweeney. But, maybe the dynamic changes between now and Sunday. Stay Tuned.
BTW, Ed Sabol of the Communications Workers of America wrote in and said he thought it would help if people could hear directly some thoughts from some of labor's leaders about the debate. So, here's a link to a debate in the Nation magazine. Thanks, Ed.
Did anyone else see that the California Nurses Association is considering joining the AFL-CIO?
http://houseoflabor.tpmcafe.com/story/2005/7/21/122029/046
CNA and SEIU were once at each other's throats. CNA even had a page on their Web site dedicated to "SEIU: The Enemy of Nurses." In the summer of 2004, SEIU and CNA forged an joint organizing alliance and buried the hatchet. A month ago, rumors were swirling around that a merger or alliance between CNA and SEIU was imminent. (SEIU nurse leaders had even called a number of people, advising them about it.)
Suddenly that's all off? CNA, which one would think would be more likely to be in the Change To Win camp, is suddenly wanting to join the AFL-CIO?
Does this signal a rift between CNA and SEIU?
Posted by: Jon-Jon | July 22, 2005 at 12:54 PM