Four labor unions to boycott AFL-CIO convention

From today's New York Times (free reg. req'd): 4 Major Unions Plan to Boycott A.F.L.-C.I.O. Event:

Leaders of four of the country's largest labor unions announced on Sunday that they would boycott this week's A.F.L.-C.I.O. convention, and officials from two of those unions, the service employees and the Teamsters, said the action was a prelude to their full withdrawal from the federation on Monday.

The affected unions are: Service Employees International Union , the United Food and Commercial Workers union, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and Unite Here, which represents apparel, hotel and restaurant employees. Read the article for all the nuances of the story and its potential impact for labor—this could be huge for meetings and conventions.

Until we see how this all shakes out, I'm just feeling the pain of the convention's planners, who now must be scrambling like crazy to try to adjust for the loss of some of its biggest attendee bases. Hope they have a really good attrition clause!

Update: SEIU and the Teamsters withdrew from the organization, and I'm hearing that UNITE HERE plans to join them. Let's keep our eye on this one, shall we?