OS ANGELES - The buzz in the hallways before the AFL-CIO's biennial convention opens here tomorrow is about presidential politics.
But the focus on whether the 13 million-member federation will embrace Al Gore or Bill Bradley seems to miss the most important developments in labor's political activities - changes that are often at odds with traditional endorsements.
Since John Sweeney was elected president of the labor federation four years ago, most unions and the AFL-CIO political operation have downgraded the importance of official endorsements and writing checks to candidates. Instead, they have shifted the emphasis toward educating members about issues and getting them involved in old-fashioned, person-to-person politics.
''If you get people right on the issues and enthusiastic enough to vote, you don't have to worry about how they vote,'' argued Bob Wages, executive vice president of the Paper, Allied Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers.
Unions are trying to make candidates debate ''working family'' issues. The Service Employees union, for example, is ''trying to expand political debate on two issues - universal health care and workers' freedom to have a voice at work in choosing a union,'' said union spokesman Matt Witt.
''We're doing better than anyone expected at getting candidates to address our issues,'' said Witt. ''They're competing as to who has the real universal health-care proposal. Certainly Gore and Bradley have tried to align themselves with the choice of workers to have a voice at work more than Democratic candidates normally do.''
Labor unions are also integrating politics with their other efforts, such as building coalitions and organizing new members. In the run-up to the convention, AFL-CIO leaders have taken part in a three-day conference with the National Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice, a series of appearances at Los Angeles synagogues and churches, a teach-in at the University of California at Los Angeles, and a community rally.
As labor has been outspent 11-to-1 in recent elections by corporations and rich individuals, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, unions have also re-emphasized their historic but neglected strength in politics, organizing volunteer workers.
''Our members are really sick of money in politics,'' said Chris Chafe, political director of UNITE, the garment and textile union. ''By removing the focus from candidates and putting it back on issues and having an ongoing political action program, our members see that our issues stay on the front burner all the time. That's helped to maintain their level of engagement.''
Next year, as in the past two congressional elections, the AFL-CIO will place coordinators in dozens of key districts around the country. They will build networks of volunteers who will talk to union members, make phone calls, and organize rallies about issues as well as candidates. In some communities, unions conduct ''labor to neighbor'' campaigns, going door-to-door in working-class neighborhoods.
Increasingly union members are asked to become political organizers, not simply obedient voters. The Service Employees, for example, will assemble next year more than 10,000 member political organizers who will pledge to work at least five days on politics. UNITE has a similar program, which encourages its noncitizen members to get involved.
''A lot of our best lobbyists and people who are able to speak at rallies are not eligible to vote,'' said Chafe of UNITE, ''but they are leaders in their community and can get people out to work and vote.''
For example, a Dominican immigrant worker registered 70 voters in three weeks in New Jersey two years ago, even though he could not vote. Now he is a citizen and wants to run for office.
Indeed, unions are trying to get more members to become candidates - their aim is 2000 in the year 2000. In San Jose, Calif., unions last year successfully ran the political director of the central labor council, Cindy Chavez, against a candidate of the Chamber of Commerce for a city council seat.
Labor was also campaigning door-to-door to win support for a ''living wage'' for all private contractors to city government. ''Linking the living wage campaign to the candidate was key to victory'' for Chavez, said Amy Dean, business manager of the labor council.
This year labor is running a union member for a county supervisor position and linking the campaign to its effort to win regulations protecting part-time workers.
One measure of labor's renewed political strength is the attacks it has drawn from Republicans and conservatives. Last year, unions mobilized 25,000 members in California to defeat what had been seen as a sure-fire conservative campaign to limit union political contributions. That mobilization later contributed to the victory of labor's gubernatorial candidate, Gray Davis.
Still, some observers see obstacles remaining for unions.
Ruy Teixeira, a senior fellow of the Century Foundation and author of a forthcoming book on workers and politics, said labor has unquestionably made itself a force to be reckoned with since 1994. But mobilizing union members, blacks, and other traditional Democratic supporters is not enough now, he said, especially since labor's new organizing efforts have still not paid off in big gains in members.
''What's missing is the nonunionized white working class, the overwhelming majority,'' Teixeira said. ''There the union strategy doesn't have a lot to say, but that's the key to the progressive coalition. Otherwise, you're just playing defense.''
