The AFL-CIO is breaking up:

CHICAGO, July 24 /PRNewswire/ -- The Change to Win Coalition unions announced the following plans today:

SEIU, the Teamsters, UFCW and UNITE HERE will not be participating in the AFL-CIO convention.

The Laborers' and Farm Workers will attend the convention.

The Carpenters do not belong to the AFL-CIO.

In addition, 11 representatives of unions in the Change To Win Coalition announced that they will not run for seats on the AFL-CIO Executive Council, nor serve if elected.

Labor organizer and consultant Jonathan Tasini at the blog Working Life has some inside scoop:

I caught up with two Executive Council members--AFSCME's Gerry McEntee and the UAW's Ron Gettelfinger--and got their reaction to the news. McEntee...: "I think if SEIU leaves and other unions join them, you know maybe three other unions, I think it's very devisive. I think it weakens the American labor movement when it's so necessary and needed in terms of solidarty at this particular time. But I would also say, on the other side of the coin, any union that leaves the Federation will also be weak. It's a no win except for the people in the White House and George Bush."

The official AFL-CIO line is this:

In the end, these unions acknowledged the real issue is not policy differences but rather control over the federation leadership—representing only 30 percent of union membership, they would not be able to gain through the AFL-CIO’s long-established democratic election process.

"Only 30 percent?" It's not a majority, but it's no small group either. If "only 30 percent" of union members who voted for John Kerry in 2004 voted for George Bush instead, the president would have added 1.5 million votes to his 60 million and Kerry would have had 1.5 million fewer.

A weaker federation, and weaker individual unions, sounds like not such a great bargain to the dues-paying union folks. Politically, this could be a disaster for the Democratic party and the left heading into the '06 mid-term elections. The long-term implications could be even more serious if a last-ditch, 11th-hour resolution isn't found to bring all these unions back under the same tent. And don't count on that happening, given current reports.