2 unions expected to quit AFL-CIO.

Byline: Jane M. Von Bergen

Jul. 25--CHICAGO - Two of the nation's major labor unions are expected today to quit the AFL-CIO, which would create one of the biggest splits in organized labor in decades, officials here said yesterday.

The unions and two others said they would boycott the AFL-CIO convention that opens today, 50 years after the labor federation was founded. The four unions represent about a third of the federation's total 12.9 million members.

"Today will be remembered as the rebirth of union strength in America," said Anna Burger, president of Change to Win, a coalition of boycotting unions that have vowed to reform the labor movement - outside the AFL-CIO if necessary.

The four major unions include Burger's organization, the Service Employees International Union, as well as the Teamsters, the United Food and Commercial Workers, and Unite Here, the union of hotel and textile workers.

"Today we have reached a point where our differences have become unresolvable," Burger said.

The Service Employees, with at least 1.7 million members, and the Teamsters, with at least 1.3 million members, will announce today that they will quit the federation, but it was not clear what the two others would do, said several labor officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the developments.