Labor's not doing to well
AFL-CIO Has Money Problems
I feel bad for the labor unions. They are taking a real beating these days. In fact, the past two decades beginning with Reagan have been horrendous. I think the Unions have to rework their image big time. People say that affinity with Democrats hurts them. I don't think so. There is a reason why they are joined at the hip with Democrats. If they weren't the Republicans would stamp them out to oblivion and workers every where would be screwed.
Oh well, I wish them well.
posted by Ono at 1:52 PM
4 Comments:
When I was involved with the New Democratic Party here in Canada, I found the union wing one big pain in butt. It was their way or no way. The unions betrayed an NDP premier by opposing him during an election, making room for the rabidly right wing Progressive Conservative party in Ontario to sweep to a majority.
I recognize the need for the labour movement. But politically they are often demand more than they give.
At least that's been my experience.
kgp
I wasn't too happy with them this past election . . . at first. They swarmed to Dean and Gephardt in the primaries because Kerry was dead in the water. When things were so bad that Kerry campaign state chairs were looking for people to fill delegate slots for the convention, it was many of us Kerry supporters who stood up to the plate. I got an email asking if I could apply and drove to Annapolis, Maryland to put my name on the ballot for Kerry.
Those of us who stuck with Kerry in the tough times were the ones who applied to be Kerry delegates when it wasn't cool. But after Kerry won Iowa and New Hampshire, the Union guys came in took over in Michigan which had a later primary and in an organized fashion, bumped out long-time Kerry supporters so that they could scoop all the delegate seats. Annoyed is hardly the word to describe how we felt.
I support labor all the way, but at a distance.
In my professional life I consult companies in areas that sometimes have a lot to do with unions, and I have become more and more against unions in their current form. Too often they place political power & gain ahead of the interests of their members. I could go on and on...
Here's my experience with the union (UAW) where I work:
In Jan. 2004, the UAW endorsed Gephardt in our newsletter, and urged the membership to support him in the Iowa caucus. Then, Gephardt lost Iowa and dropped out. Later on, the UAW gave their support to Kerry. Now, this is not surprising, in as far as the UAW (like most, if not all, unions) are basically an arm of the Democratic Party. However, I did enjoy the hypocrisy of the UAW's later endorsement of Kerry, when in the Jan. 2004 newsletter they had done a comparison of Gephardt, Dean, and Kerry on all the issues important to labor, and while they gave Gephardt a little gold star for being good for labor right down the line of issues, they gave Dean and Kerry black checkmarks down the line for how their stances on the issues were bad for working families. Then after Gephardt dropped out and the UAW endorsed Kerry several months later, all of the sudden Kerry was GREAT for working families and had always been on the side of labor. Needless to say, the UAW's credibility gets shot to hell when they pull crap like this.
Their being in bed with the Democratic Party, I believe, does in fact hurt them. In my plant, there is a sizeable Republican minority amongst the hourly employees. Somewhere around 35%-40%. Seeing as I got tired of the lies and propaganda put out by the UAW, they no longer get a cut out of my paycheck. Quite a few others feel the same way. At least, that's how it is in my neck of the woods, where some of us don't need the union to tell us what to think and how to vote.
David B
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