After spending record amounts (over $1,000,000,000) of workers’ dues money on the last congressional campaign, Big Labor has set its sights on electing a president who will sign its agenda — with no questions asked.
The Hill newspaper is reporting that union militants are revamping their presidential-endorsement process, admitting that in 2004, the bosses didn’t take into account their members’ views before backing a candidate.
Gerald McEntee, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), spoke of his union’s endorsement of failed presidential candidate and current Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean early in the nominating process. As McEntee put it, the union had not done due diligence with its membership in selecting a candidate capable of winning.
“I think in the final analysis . . . we didn’t drill down far enough,” McEntee said. “We didn’t get down to the real activist level.”
Setting their sights on 2008, the labor bosses
. . . also cited the lessons of 2006, praising the impact of the 13.6 million union members who “mobilized” in 32 states. These members plan to have an even bigger effect in 2008, the officials added.
“This level of activity by union members early in the process will lay the groundwork for the greatest involvement by working people ever in electing the president of the United States,” [AFL-CIO boss John] Sweeney said.
It also promises to lay the groundwork for more compulsory union dues being spent on politics — even over the objections of union members.
The Machinists’ Local S6 union issued an alert warning message from leadership on Thursday, saying that anyone who chooses to cross the pickets will be fined after the strike is over. It also included harsh references to so-called scabs, suggesting they should be drowned or hung.
Gary Jones Plea Deal: “The root of this corruption was compulsion. Federal law gives union bosses the power to force workers under their so-called ‘representation’ against their will, and in states without Right to Work protections to force them to subsidize their activities or else be fired. Those dual coercive powers are what put UAW tyrants in a position to begin with that allowed them to sell out the rank-and-file so they could live large.
Sixty-six Politicians From Right to Work States Join War on 14(b) Early this year, 224 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, including 66 from Right to Work states, voted for legislation that would cut the heart out of every state Right to Work statute and constitutional provision that is currently on the books.