New Orleans       After twenty years, the two-million member Service Employees International Union (SEIU) issued a press release quoting its new president, April Verret, saying that after twenty years, the union is rejoining the AFL-CIO.  This is news, but it also one of those things where one would nod and say, “it was just a matter of time.”

Will this make a different to the AFL-CIO.  Absolutely, the last time I walked through some of the floors of the headquarters in Washington looking directly towards the White House, there seemed to be more empty offices, than those that were filled.  Eliminate the per capita dues of two million members, and it’s something that changes your budget and the trajectory of your work.  Other than the budgeting, it probably won’t mean anything different.  From the outside looking in, workers might hope that SEIU returns with something more in the way of promises and commitments that caused the union to leave it the first place, but that’s doubtful.  The alternative federation SEIU tried to create, Change to Win, is really no longer, and has been restyled over recent years into something more like a research and campaign thing that shows up on the business pages mounting shareholder resolutions, not on the front pages with organizing or action victories.

Both organizations have been in synch on political contributions and work for a number of cycles now, so were as good as merged.  Individual locals may have liked Senator Bernie Sanders, but there was never any institutional question about how SEIU and the AFL-CIO would line up on Democratic polices.  Nothing about this homecoming will address the critical desertion of huge numbers of workers to the Republicans.

There may be some face-saving posturing about this unification being a way of preparing for Trump II or dealing with the aftermath of the 2024 election revelations, but that’s window dressing.  As much as anything, this return to the fold was about time and a changing of the guard.  John Sweeney and Richard Trumka have both passed away, who were the leaders of the AFL-CIO during this separation.  Andy Stern, who triggered the split, has long been retired from SEIU and Mary Kay Henry, his successor, was gradually unravelling the pieces.

Will this change the fortunes of organized labor?  Not really, and that’s the problem for SEIU, both inside and outside of the “house of labor,” as well as for the rest of us and the working class.  SEIU left when they failed to get the commitments on mass organizing and political action from the AFL-CIO, despite the similar commitments that had led John Sweeney to his run for the presidency of that organization after leading SEIU’s growth. As a federation, the AFL-CIO could claim 30% for organizing, but the rest was herding cats, and many of those old lions in the building and trades were not comfortable with any change and more than able to quell any internal revolution.

The real problem is that, inside or out, the fortunes of labor were not improving and continued to decline, both politically and at the workplace.  Change doesn’t come just with a reallocation of resources, despite the enormous importance they hold in organizing.  There has to be a different organizing model, and there’s no willingness or appetite to make that change in order to win, by either SEIU or the member unions of the AFL-CIO.