Contrary to earlier reports, it seems that the labor movement might not be partnering with outside unions to form a new federation. Ezra Klein got his hands on an AFL-CIO memo suggesting the coalition is not interested in a merger with Change to Win, a break-off federation led by the Service Employees International Union. From the memo:
Contrary to suggestions in certain press reports, I can assure you that neither these discussions nor the National Labor Coordinating Committee that was announced yesterday as a very short-term vehicle to continue the reunification discussions and to facilitate coordination activities with the non-AFL-CIO unions on some of the major, pending legislative matters, reflect any intention whatsoever for the AFL-CIO to relinquish its responsibilities to an umbrella organization of any kind. The AFL-CIO is America’s Labor Federation and it simply will not yield its role to a coordinating committee of any kind…the AFL-CIO will not be disbanding to start anew [and] it will not be subordinating itself to or merging itself into any other organization.
You can read the whole memo here. Re-unification would give the labor movement a single, louder voice to push for legislative priorities, most notably the Employee Free Choice Act. Change to Win seceded from AFL-CIO in late 2005, arguing that the labor movement should focus more on organizing workers.
The memo seems to leave the door open to Change to Win re-joining AFL-CIO as an affiliate, but only if AFL-CIO remains the parent organization. No “equal partnership,” in other words.