So, I'm not going to pretend I know much about organized labor, but I thought this was an interesting news event:

Teamsters, SEIU Bolt AFL-CIO Federation
By RON FOURNIER, AP Political Writer
14 minutes ago

The Teamsters and a major service employees union on Monday bolted from the AFL-CIO, a stunning exodus for an embattled movement already struggling to build its ranks and cope with a rapidly changing work environment.

In a decision that AFL-CIO President John Sweeney labeled a "grievous insult" to working people, the Teamsters union and the Service Employees International Union, two major federation affiliates, said they decided they had to leave.

"In our view, we must have more union members in order to change the political climate that is undermining workers' rights in this country," said Teamsters President James P. Hoffa. "The AFL-CIO has chosen the opposite approach."

The Teamsters joined the Service Employees International Union, the largest AFL-CIO affiliate with 1.8 million members, in bolting. The SEIU is a union that AFL-CIO President John Sweeney once headed. They said they were forming a competing labor coalition designed to reverse labor's long decline in union membership.

This was not an easy or happy decision, said Service Employees International leader Andrew Stern, once a Sweeney protege.

"Our world has changed, our economy has changed, employers have changed," Stern said. "But the AFL-CIO is not willing to make fundamental changes as well. By contrast, SEIU has changed."

The joint announcement, the largest schism in labor's ranks since the 1930s, came as no surprise since weeks of publicly-aired dissension within the ranks preceded it. But it hit the AFL-CIO convention like a thunder clap, nevertheless.

In Washington, White House press secretary Scott McClellan said President Bush was staying out of the labor dispute. "That's a political matter for them to address," he said.

In the current environment, "We've lost the ability to organize," Hoffa told reporters. "What we find is there is not enough effort going on...We believe we have the energy to go out and organize. There are unions in the AFL-CIO that are basically bound to the past, they're living off the past."

Both Hoffa and Stern said that there were many outstanding issues, including back dues, that needed to be worked out in the coming days with the AFL-CIO. Of the seven unions in their coalition, the Teamsters and the SEIU were the only ones so far to have actually bolted.

In advance of the dissidents' news conference, Sweeney had chastized them for their defection at a convention also marred by boycott.

"At a time when our corporate and conservative adversaries have created the most powerful anti-worker political machine in the history of our country, a divided movement hurts the hopes of working families for a better life," Sweeney said in his keynote address.

Many union presidents, labor experts and Democratic Party leaders fear the split will weaken the movement politically and hurt unionized workers who need a united and powerful ally against business interests and global competition.

Two other unions — United Food and Commercial Workers and UNITE HERE, a group of textile and hotel workers — joined the Teamsters and the SEIU in boycotting the convention, a step widely seen as a sign that they are also poised to leave the AFL-CIO.

The four unions, representing one-third of the AFL-CIO's 13 million members, are part of a coalition of labor groups vowing to accomplish what the 50-year-old labor giant has failed to do: Reverse the decades-long decline in union membership.

"This split is a deep concern to Democrats everywhere," said Democratic consultant David Axelrod of Chicago

A few blocks away from where the seven-union Change to Win Coalition held its news conference, a downsized AFL-CIO met to hear Sweeney say he was "very angry" at the breakaway leaders.

"The labor movement belongs to all of us ... and our future should not be dictated by the demands of any group or the ambitions of any individual," Sweeney said.

"But it is also my responsibility to hold our movement together — because our power is vested in our solidarity. So I want you to know I will overcome my own anger and disappointment and do everything in my power to bring us back where we belong — and that's together," he said.

Earlier, Democratic lawmakers were careful not to take sides in the fight in their convention speeches, but urged labor leaders to stand together for workers at a critical time.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said business interests may think the divide will make organized labor vulnerable.

"We have news for them. It's not going to happen," he said to cheers. "Our unity is our strength. We will stand together and fight for working families."

After his speech, Durbin said it's too early to tell what impact the rift will have on the Democratic Party, which relies on labor movement for money and manpower on Election Day. "I think the unions not participating in this convention are still deeply committed to working families," he said. "I hope the separation in our union family is resolved very soon.

Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., made a glancing reference at the dispute, telling delegates: "There are questions of strategy and tactics of leadership and power and I can imagine many of you are anxious about labor's future but, more importantly, you're also anxious about your own futures."

He urged labor leaders to adapt to the global economy, which is pressuring U.S. workers out of jobs. "There has never been a greater need for a strong labor movement to stand up for American workers," Obama said.

"Our differences are so fundamental and so principled that at this point I don't think there is a chance there will be a change of course," said UFCW President Joe Hansen.

Leaders of the dissident unions demanded Sweeney's ouster, said the AFL-CIO was beyond repair from within and demanded more money for organizing. They also are seeking power to force mergers of smaller unions and other changes they say are key to adapting to vast changes in society and the economy.

Rank-and-file members of the 52 non-boycotting AFL-CIO affiliates expressed confusion and anger over the action. "If there was ever a time we workers need to stick together, it's today," said Olegario Bustamante, a steelworker from Cicero, Ill.

It's the biggest rift in organized labor since 1938, when the CIO split from the AFL. The organizations reunited in the mid-1950s.

Globalization, automation and the transition from an industrial-based economy have forced hundreds of thousands of unionized workers out of jobs, weakening labor's role in the workplace.

When the AFL-CIO formed 50 years ago, union membership was at its zenith, with one of every three private-sector workers belonging to a labor group. Now, less than 8 percent of private-sector workers are unionized.

wow, thanks for posting that, Ara .. my b/f is a long-standing union member and has to be to work for the company he's with, and I'm sure this will affect him & all the folks he works with.

say what you will about unions, they've really helped protect the rights of a lot of Americans over the years.

Organized labor is my preferred way of keeping companies in check.

It'll be interesting to see where this leads.

one thing i'm suprised wasn't mentioned in the article (that i saw) was that the teamsters have about 1/3 of the AFL/CIO members but only get 10% of the vote.

i do think this can have a negative impact on unions and the way that companies view them. this country hasn't been very pro-union in a few decades and i think that this will send that message even further. especially in a state like florida, where i live, that is primarily conservative and anti-union. my husband is in a union and for his trade i think they would all suffer greatly if they didn't have that.

Are you lost?

not the last time i checked, why? and if you mean by the conservative statement i made, it was in reference to the business owners who would be employing people in these trades, not the voting population.