Among the unions likely to support a Wilhelm candidacy are the Service Employees International Union, the Teamsters and the Laborers, along with Unite Here, the new union formed by the merger of Wilhelm's Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees with the Union of Needletrades, Textiles and Industrial Employees. Other unions that have signaled interest in a Wilhelm bid are the United Food and Commercial Workers and the United Auto Workers. If Wilhelm could line up all these unions, he would still need to get additional backing to reach a majority vote.
Sweeney, who was once president of SEIU, the service employees union, said earlier that he already has enough commitments to defeat a challenger. Among the unions backing him are the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the Communications Workers, the Machinists and Aerospace Workers, and many smaller unions opposed to calls for forced mergers.
At the Las Vegas meeting, the executive council will take up various proposals to change the structure of the AFL-CIO.
Andrew L. Stern, president of SEIU and a Wilhelm ally, has outlined what is probably the most radical approach. Stern would empower the AFL-CIO to require the merger of unions representing workers in the same sector -- such as health care, construction or transportation -- to be able to bargain with more strength with large corporations that are themselves the results of mergers.
In addition, Stern has called for cutting union dues to the AFL-CIO in half, with member unions taking the $40 million to $45 million that they would have otherwise paid in dues to use for organizing campaigns and for the development of formal alliances with foreign unions to bargain effectively with global firms.
Other unions have proposed similar, if less venturesome, plans, all of which will be discussed in Las Vegas.
In addition to strengthening the AFL-CIO's oversight powers and investing more money in organizing new members, many union leaders are convinced they need to take on Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the huge retailer with 2004 earnings of $10.27 billion.
Wal-Mart, they argue, has not only fought off organizing bids, but it has severely weakened unions and pay scales at its competitors and suppliers. Wal-Mart's buying power has been a powerful tool forcing suppliers to lower prices sharply, and the company's own low prices have forced competitors to reduce their own labor costs to survive.
