A giant leap forward for the Working Families Party

Buried in this article in the NYT regarding New York state granting over 52,000 day-care employees collective bargaining rights (which is great news for the workers, and for (although the article doesn't mention it, I'm surmising) SEIU): rejoice fans of fusion voting and the Working Families Party!:

The Senate votes show the clout of the labor-backed Working Families Party, a past supporter of Senator Nicholas A. Spano, a Yonkers Republican [emphasis added] who carried his district by a mere 18 votes in 2004. Mr. Spano, who sponsored the child care bill, is aggressively courting the party's support in the fall election.

>snip<

Shortly after the vote Friday night, Mr. Spano called Bertha Lewis, the co-chairwoman of the Working Families Party, to tell her the news.

While I don't want to quibble with an admittedly good outcome for day-care workers, is this labor's new political strategy - forming a new party and cozying up to Republicans who'll throw us a scrap every now and again?