There is a chance that dissident unions may boycott the AFL-CIO convention in Chicago unless the federation's president John Sweeney agrees to some of their demands. The possibility that those unions - the service employees, Teamsters, food and commercial workers and Unite Here - would boycott the convention signals that the four might carry out their threat to quit the federation, labor leaders said. The dissident unions, which include about one-third of the federation's members, are unhappy that Mr. Sweeney seems certain to win a new four-year term at the convention.
See "Dissidents Threaten Labor Convention Boycott", Steven Greenhouse, The New York Times, July 19, 2005