Obama win shakes up organized labor

[DesertFox]

Despite racking up almost all of the endorsements from organized labor, Hillary Rodham Clinton and John Edwards came in behind Barack Obama -- the only Democratic front-runner with no national union support -- in the Iowa caucuses. That left at least one union looking for a new candidate Friday.

International Association of Fire Fighters President Howard Schaitberger called the support for Obama "breathtaking," after seeing his union's candidate, Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., falter in Iowa and drop out of the race. Despite the money and the manpower organized labor shifted to Iowa for Clinton, Edwards and Dodd -- one union ran television ads for Clinton while another shifted workers in-state to stump for Edwards -- Obama still won convincingly.

More (http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-democrats-labor,0,6559848.story)

[DesertFox]

Hillary and the Commies gotta go back to the drawing board.

But I repeat myself.

[ColonialMarine0431]

In theory, unions are a good thing. In practice, they're nothing more than organized mafias. Thats one of the reasons Detroit is dead. Paying some idiot $40/hour to screw in a bolt (usually in the wrong way) ultimately leads to bankruptcy.

[Elgalad]

CM hit it right on the head with his Detroit example. Trade unions are directly responsible for the massive decline in manufacturing jobs and the shift of those jobs overseas.

There is a significant difference though, between private sector unions (big labor) and government worker unions (big bureaucracy).

The former is indeed in the final stages of committing economic and popular suicide and really isn't much of a political factor anymore. The trade unions do still control a considerable amount of money in the form of membership dues and pension funds however, and they retain a voice at the DNC, for now. Edwards' campaign has focused their efforts on courting Big Labor. I believe this is a serious mistake because it fails to take into account just how far big labor has diminished and continues to diminish in membership as well as in popular opinion. The Writers' strike in Hollywood is only the most recent example of their excesses. Their embracing of open borders and support for amnesty are examples of their suicidal insanity.

I firmly believe that a far bigger threat (from a Conservative standpoint) is the rapid increase in government worker union membership. This includes every form of public sector organizing: the NEA, Police and Firefighter Unions, Metropolitan transit worker unions, garbage collectors, civil engineers, etc. As the private sector continues to lose its workforce to overseas outsourcing and the decline in American manufacturing to multinational corporations, the Left has contrived to build Government large enough to absorb those displaced workers into its fold. And it's been very successful in that regard. Clinton has gone after these government unions and claimed their support for her campaign. It remains to be seen whether these endorsements will push her into the Democrat nomination, but their already in place organization is far better suited to a political campaign than big labor's.


It seems ironic that the economic policies the Left have espoused have only served to weaken their labor base. The reasons are clear to anyone who understands basic supply side economics, but since socialism seemingly ignores that reality, the trade unions continue to decline. On the other hand, the Dems' 'craziness' could instead be that of a fox, since they've already planned a new home (in big government) for all those former free range chickens that they've now collected into their own special 'coop'.

A lot easier to collect the eggs and the chicks when they're all in one convenient place for the taking.


-Elgalad