They're rearranging the deck chairs in the union halls. While union membership dwindles into nothing, the AFL-CIO headquarters is rejecting a plan to give more money to individual unions for organizing. They say the money is needed to run headquarters properly. Mind you, it's not exactly comforting that the plan's main proponent is a head of the Teamsters named Hoffa. But if they don't find a way to mount new organizing drives in the next few years, they won't need a headquarters.

Of course, there are things that it's proper for the headquarters to do -- like opposing bad legislation at the national level. But considering how much of that we've seen since Dubya took power, it's obvious that the Republicans are disinclined to listen -- and right now, the Democrats have allowed themselves to be made irrelevant. A strong showing by union membership might change that -- but before that, they need to have members.