The Washington State Labor Council—the local labor lobby which represents AFL-CIO unions— has come under fire from the other big union lobby in town, the SEIU.

PubliCola got a copy of an  angry letter that the Service Employees International Union sent to WSCL president Rick Bender yesterday saying the WSLC may be "undermin[ing] our ability to work together and maintain unity." (The letter is signed by four local SEIU presidents, including high profile  SEIU 775 leader David Rolf.)

At issue: The WSLC invited an ousted SEIU leader, Sal Rosselli, to speak at the WSCL's August 6-8 convention in Wenatchee.

The letter—also singed by SEIU Local 6 president Sergio Selinas, Local 925 president Kim Cook,  and Local 1948/PSE president George Dockins—lists SEIU's complaints about Roselli, including, they say, "improperly diverting $3 million in members' dues money to a bogus non-profit organization."

WSLC spokeswoman Kathy Cummings defends the decision to bring Rosselli, telling PubliCola that "he's a great trade unionist. And they're [SEIU] making a bigger deal out of this than it really is. This is a 15-minute information session."

Cummings says Rosselli headed up SEIU when it was the fastest growing union in California, and that he's simply speaking to the WSLC delegates for 15 minutes.

Rosselli, who was removed by SEIU international head Andy Stern in January when the union was put into trusteeship, is now heading up a new union. Cummings says WSCL isn't taking any side or passing any resolutions, repeating: "It's just an informational session."

The WSLC, of course, has also gotten some attention lately for speaking out against labor's traditional allies, the Democrats. Rather than contributing to the local Democratic war chests, the WSLC is starting a PAC, (the Don't Invest in More Excuse PAC ) which may do ads against Democrats that the labor council feels betrayed them in this year's legislative session.