If AFL-CIO doesn't change, biggest union might leave BY STEPHEN FRANKLIN, CHICAGO TRIBUNE
Officials from the AFL-CIO, an umbrella organization for 60 of the nation's unions and their 13 million members, said federation President John Sweeney asked a group of union officials to come up with proposals addressing Stern's issues at the labor leaders' February meeting in Los Angeles.
But one high-ranking AFL-CIO official, who asked not to be named, said some leaders had other reasons for passing over Stern's proposal. They considered his widely publicized effort 'grandstanding' and 'were unwilling to grant Andy a big fight, because that is what he wanted,' the official said.
Stern is calling for the merger of smaller unions, for giving the AFL-CIO the power to oversee unions' bargaining and organizing, and for the labor federation to force unions to stick to their core industries and not randomly recruit new members.