WASHINGTON – The president of the AFL-CIO, John Sweeney, warned dissident unions considering the idea of leaving the federation that their exit could injure the labor movement and play into the hands of labor’s adversaries.

At a press event yesterday with union chiefs who are supporting his bid for re-election, Mr. Sweeney said five unions that recently formed a coalition outside the AFL-CIO were in danger of losing sight of the true obstacles facing American labor.

“No union that’s up here today is the cause of the assault on worker’s rights in this country. No union that isn’t here is the cause of the assault. So, when we aim our guns at the need for change, all of us need to be sure we don’t end up in a circle,” Mr. Sweeney said. “The enemies of working people are not among any of us.”

The rebel unions, which include the Service Employees, the Teamsters, and the hotel, restaurant, and laundry worker union, Unite-Here, have faulted Mr. Sweeney and his team for failing to organize enough new workers to stem the decline in union membership, particularly in the private sector.

Mr. Sweeney, 71, who faces re-election at a convention in Chicago next month, said yesterday that he was proud of his record of “extraordinary achievements” during his decade at the helm of the labor federation. He said the decline in union rolls was the result of political factors and global economic forces that American trade unionists could do little to counter.

“Ask yourself, what organizing strategy could have overcome the tidal wave of jobs wiped out by outsourcing?” Mr. Sweeney said. He also faulted some of the dissident unions for suggesting that the federation has spent too much money on politics and has been co-opted by the Democratic Party.

“There’s an umbilical link between political action and winning workers’ rights,” the federation chief said.

Mr. Sweeney suggested that the “Change to Win” coalition formed last week was too fixated on the ideas of one individual. “No one leader’s ideas are worth the price of labor’s solidarity. ‘My way or the highway’ is not a strategy for change; it’s a formula for division,” he said. Mr. Sweeney did not mention any of the dissidents by name, but appeared to be referring to the man who has spearheaded the attack on the federation’s leadership, the president of the Service Employees, Andrew Stern.

During the present debate, Mr. Stern’s union was the first to toy with the concept of disaffiliation from the federation. Three other unions, Unite-Here, the Teamsters, and the United Food and Commercial Workers, now appear to be headed in that direction.

Asked about the apparent swipe, a spokesman for Mr. Stern, Benjamin Boyd, referred to a statement issued yesterday by the upstart coalition.

“Unity that does not unite workers to build power is a false unity,” the statement said. “The AFL-CIO officers’ approach is a status quo unity that will simple reinforce the trajectory of the last 10 years.”

The notion that the labor movement has declined under Mr. Sweeney was disputed by the executive vice president of the AFL-CIO, Richard Trumka, who noted that the federation has brought in more than four million new members in the past decade.

While acknowledging that labor’s reforms were “certainly not” enough, Mr. Trumka blamed the movement’s ills on “not only the conservative political vise that holds workers in our country captive, but the iron fist of corporate greed that is crushing working families.”

The president of the Communications Workers of America, Morton Bahr, said Mr. Sweeney was both prepared for and entitled to a new term as the AFL-CIO’s chief. “He’s a man of limitless energy, and I believe he’s earned the right to lead the American labor movement.”

While the dissident unions represent about 35% of the AFL-CIO’s membership, they will have only 9% of the delegates at the federation’s convention in Chicago next month. That discrepancy could allow Mr. Sweeney to prevent the rebel unions from bringing to a vote any of their reform proposals, including a plan to issue organizing rebates to unions of up to 50% of the per-member dues they currently pay to the federation. The AFL-CIO’s leadership has proposed a more modest rebate for organizing.

Asked if he would allow the convention to take up the dissidents’ plans, Mr. Sweeney said, “I can assure you that the convention will be a very democratic convention, and there will be significant debate – I’m anticipating – on a number of issues.” The federation chief said he was hopeful that all the delegates to the convention would be allowed to air their views.

In a brief interview yesterday with The New York Sun, Mr. Sweeney said pro-labor political leaders backed his call for solidarity. “There is a concern both in moderate Republicans and Democrats about a divided labor movement, and I think they understand the importance of unity.”

Asked if top Democrats like the chairman of the Democratic Party, Howard Dean, had weighed in, Mr. Sweeney said, “Most of those who are in leadership positions have expressed, orally expressed, their concern about it and it’s no surprise to us they’re concerned, because we understand the downside of a split in the labor movement.”

In their speeches, Mr. Sweeney and other speakers bashed the retail giant, Wal-Mart, whose non-union operation has recently become the bete noire of the labor movement. The speakers did not mention that the union leading labor’s crusade against Wal-Mart, the United Food and Commercial Workers, has joined the dissident coalition.

Mr. Sweeney said he hopes to meet with the rebel union chiefs soon and is prepared to meet with them as a group or individually. He said he is hopeful that the wavering unions will ultimately remain in the fold.