Today was Anna Burger's day in the spotlight. Her stump speech was about the 2008 elections, and why politics was so important to SEIU's future. Burger, who heads up Change to Win, is apparently the czar of SEIU's political operations, and it was nice to hear her say, "There is no question that organizing and politics go hand and hand," acknowledging the link between SEIU's growth and their work in the political arena.

But inside SEIU's world, what is cause and what is effect? Right before she uttered those words Burger said, "Make no mistake--our political strength is a direct result of the one million new members who have joined our union since 1996."

Seems to me the reverse is more true, that SEIU's rapid growth is the result of their political operations (savvy, more than strong, I would argue).

Tonight the Puerto Rican teachers held a "charla" or chat with SEIU members interested in learning more about their struggle, and the conflict between SEIU and their union the FMPR. I couldn't be there but Labor Notes Policy Committee member Steve Early was on the scene. From Steve's reports, the FMPR event sounded about as far from the highly scripted, stage-managed SEIU convention as you could get.

In contrast to the flashing lights, punchy music and telepromters of Andy Stern's SEIU, the FMPR president Rafael Feliciano Hernandez was busy setting up the folding chairs for Monday night's meeting.

After the division reports, International Executive Vice President Tom Woodruff closed the show, emphasizing a couple of the key pieces of the “Justice for All” program. These include:

• Ensuring all locals follow through on constitutional commitment to spend 20 percent of their budgets on organizing.
• Recommendations from the International Executive Board (IEB) that when bargaining with designated national employers and industry sectors, designated by the divisions, that we speak with one voice and unite our strength.

The first one is important because this year at convention the IEB is proposing that any local failing to meet the 20 percent target be required to transfer any organizing money “left on the table” up to the International. The money will be used to finance division organizing programs. This is not peanuts, either. Internally the International estimates it spent $530 million on organizing through the local 20 percent funds between 1997 and 2006. But they estimate another $97 million was “left on the table” and went unspent over the same period.

After Andy’s speech the union turned to its bread and butter, the question of organizing the unorganized (who SEIU has determined, through focus groups I guess, we should call not-yet-union workers). Executive Vice President Tom Woodruff ran the show, and spoke about some of the strategies and key campaigns the union has on its agenda.

It was the first time I’d ever heard Woodruff speak, and it was an interesting contrast to Stern. Andy’s talk came off like a performance. You half expected to see him trot out people wearing “I heart justice” t-shirts at some perfectly choreographed moment. If you closed your eyes when Andy was talking about SEIU’s new call center program (a centerpiece of “Justice for All”) you could easily have confused him with some Silicon Valley CEO talking about a new product roll out. More than once I wondered if Andy secretly models his public persona on Apple’s celebrated CEO Steve Jobs.

The afternoon started off with Andy Stern’s big speech. You can watch the whole thing on the web and I encourage you check it out and draw your own conclusions about Stern’s vision for the union.

Once I got my food I had a really interesting conversation at the lunch table with several rank-and-file SEIU members. I was sitting next to a woman from 1199 New York who remarked that this convention, her fourth one, lacked energy. The man sitting next to her commented on all the security.

Another delegate started talking about Bruce Raynor, president of UNITE HERE, who spoke right before lunch. He said he had some differences with Raynor’s assessment of the Service Workers United (SWU) alliance that SEIU has with UNITE HERE. According to him, “SWU has been terrible for us. It undermines our wages.” He explained that he is a public sector worker, and that there is contracting out in his building. The workers at Sodexo doing this contracted work make a lot less than he does, even with the union. And because the union has been focused on organizing the Sodexo workers they have been softer about fighting the privatization of public jobs in the same buildings.

Lunch on Day 1 of the SEIU convention was another déjà vu moment. As fates would have it, I got in line behind Gabe Kramer, a senior staffer at 1199 West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky. Gabe was part of the crew that tried to barrel their way into the banquet at the Labor Notes conference in April. You can see him in the video—he is the guy in the parking lot with the beard, wearing a bomber jacket and leading chants with the megaphone.

I asked him how the transition is going in his local now that Dave Regan, the resident attack dog of the SEIU International, is slated to permanently move up to the Big House. Regan, along with the Stern-appointed Local 721 president Annelle Grajeda, is currently slated to move into a newly created executive vice president slot. Regan has been carrying water for the International in their high-profile dispute with United Healthcare Workers-West (check out a sample in a debate with Sal Rosselli on Democracy Now).

After I made it into the guest area on the convention floor I found my way to the press section and settled in. (We’re in the back corner closest to the door if you want to come by and say hello.) I got a little panicky when the convention opened with a video so cheesy it made Tuesdays with Morrie look like Apocalypse Now.

The storyline was pretty simple. A downtrodden worker writes a note, puts it in a purple bottle and throws it into the ocean. It washes up on the beaches of Puerto Rico and a cute little girl, who evidently can run a pretty long way without getting out of breath, finds it and runs over to the San Juan Convention Center.

Life sometimes kicks up ironies so fantastic you have to laugh out loud. On opening day of the SEIU convention there were more than I could count. The first one happened less than ten minutes after I got inside the convention center. (Yes, they did scan the barcode on my ID badge, albeit only once, and I did have to pass through a turnstile)

I was being escorted to the press section of the convention floor along with Kris Maher from the Wall Street Journal and Michelle Amber from the BNA’s Daily Labor Report when I got pulled out of our little convoy by one of the convention sergeants-at-arms. When I looked over at him, whose face was I staring at? Yup, Frank Hornick (seen below, dutifully guarding the door in question):

For those of you scratching your head (true, Frank Hornick's not yet a household name) Frank was leading SEIU’s version of the flying wedge in April when over 150 staff and members tried to storm the banquet hall at the Labor Notes conference. Here is Frank in action back then: