Posts Tagged ‘Politics’
Of Card Check and Purity
A quick interesting note that offers a good reminder of just how important it is to fight and kill the intentionally misnamed Employee Free Choice Act is that some top leaders of the Republican Party are considering something of a “purity test” for potential candidates — and a position against card check would be part of that decision.
That’s more evidence that opposition to EFCA is a political winner, as is news that a candidate under fire is pointing to her opposition to card check. Makes one wonder why any politicians would want to keep this on the table as they head into an election year.
Wasn’t Card Check About The Workers?
Wrong! It’s about many things … control, buckets of money union bosses expect to haul in, and — you guessed it — the political power that money can buy. The folks from Netroots Nation 09 were apparently kind enough to post video of the importance union density plays to electing Democrats:
A more cynical blog would conclude that legislators who support EFCA are doing so for a political advantage. We, however, will simply conclude that some legislators have been genuinely misled about the bill’s attack on workplace democracy and the resulting loss of jobs.
But were EFCA to pass, ignorance would be no excuse for legislators having voted for it or any form of EFCA-lite. Just one more thing for the political calculus.
The Political Reason For Card Check
Modernizing the nation’s labor law is critical to expanding union membership—which in turn, will ensure conservatives become a permanent minority, as newly-empowered workers actively engage in political action and demand a new way of doing the nation’s business…
That’s an agenda item for next week’s liberal gathering known as Netroots Nation, and the item is courtesy of Shopfloor.org’s Keith Smith, who writes: “So that’s their reason for supporting the EFCA. It’s politics! Why else would labor bosses support a proposal that would put 600,000 hard working Americans out of work?”
Smith is right, and it’s also important to remember that while some people see this as a money-making scheme and others see it as a means to building a political movement, Americans of all stripes — rich ones, poor ones, union ones, non-union ones — say they don’t like EFCA.
Dollars Everywhere, But Not One To Spare
Union officials have thrown money around like it’s going out of style — and indeed it may be, as three stories circulating the news point out:
- The Wall Street Journal notes that the AFL-CIO and the Service Employees International Union are both facing much bigger liabilities than in recent years, thanks to their lavish political spending
- A critical new examination finds almost half of the nation’s largest unions have pensions funds that are at “endangered” funding levels, according to a report from the Washington Examiner (which, of course, includes a quote from ABC’s in-house expert, Brett McMahon)
- Newt Gingrich’s article “Once, we would have called it a scandal” … well, frankly, it has so much info that we aren’t going to do it an injustice by recapping — just click thee there immediately.
Gorski Questions AFL-CIO Strategy on EFCA
Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) 2009 National Chairman Jerry Gorski, president of Gorski Engineering, Collegeville, Pa., today issued the following statement in reaction to news that the AFL-CIO will support Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter’s 2010 reelection campaign if he votes for the Employee Free Choice Act (S. 560):
“It is difficult to believe that union bosses in Washington think they are able to buy a vote in support of the misnamed Employee Free Choice Act. This is a desperate attempt on their part to try and shove this legislation onto the American public,” said Gorski.
“Unfortunately, what the AFL-CIO fails to realize is that neither Senator Specter’s nor any other member of Congress’ vote is for sale,” added Gorski.
“It is surprising in this era of change that anyone would be brazen enough to suggest a quid pro quo such as this,” said Gorski.
“A new report shows that if the Employee Free Choice Act were signed into law, 600,000 Americans would be out of work in the first year alone,” added Gorski. “The President and this Congress could serve the country much better by working to create more jobs and fixing the economy.”
