Despite the somewhat rocky relationship between the labor movement and the Obama Administration, Democratic hopes for holding on to Congress were largely dependent on the political efforts of organized labor—still the only grassroots organization that has a track record of turning out reliably Democratic voters in key battleground states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Wisconsin. According to a recent Wall Street Journal/NBC poll, 55 percent of union members prefer to see the Democrats in control of Congress, compared to the general population, which is split down the middle.
While the Great Recession has further decimated labor’s shrinking ranks, which currently stands at 13 percent of the work force, union voters were a key voting bloc in some of the most highly contested races this year. The AFL-CIO—along with the Change to Win unions—launched an aggressive get-out-the-vote campaign. In September alone, the labor federation mailed out 2.5 million pieces of campaign literature, targeting approximately 50 congressional and gubernatorial races.
Exit polling year after year shows that a union card is one of the strongest predictors of voting behavior, trumping race, educational background, and religiosity—identities that the GOP have masterfully manipulated since Richard Nixon first reached out to the silent majority in 1970. Labor had the job of not only getting its members to the polls but of, as liberal columnist Harold Meyerson writes, “…keeping the white working class from flooding into the Republican column.”
The question many embattled Democrats and labor leaders asked going into this election was: how would the rank-and-file respond?
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3 comments:
I think there is a need for unions to a point but they have become to politically powerful which is bad for the rest of us. When the government bails out select companies for the sole reason that the unions are big campaign donors there is a conflict of interest.
I agree, a free market labor force works best. In times of need like now, you work for less if you have to, and as long as your working, get ahead in life. When the economy is strong you get raises and if you don't, then you go elsewhere to work. Supply and demand. The hispanics have it down cold, they get work and do it for less. My brother-in-law just remodeled a room in his fairly new home and the contractor charged $40 an hour for himself and $40 an hour for his employee. He's been a contractor for over 40 years and does top notch carpentry/home building but I couldn't afford that hourly rate.
What's wrong in the above article?
The unions spent the member's dues money to leverage the union leader's power base in DC. This money should be spent on the local level on behalf of the member's needs. DC doesn't give a crap about big labor, just their dollars.
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