Thomas Frank, the author of "What's the Matter with Kansas" has a tough op-ed piece on the Wall Street Journal today about the future of the Democratic Party and its relationship with organized labor. Frank, a committed progressive, minces no words:
Good old K Street, where the big tea party never stopped, has all but halted organized labor's effort to make it easier for workers to unionize.
After massive lobbying both by labor and by business, it appears that the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which, as it now stands, would allow workers to organize in many cases merely by signing cards instead of holding elections, will not have the 60 votes required to get past a Republican filibuster in the Senate.
Why does labor always get it in the neck?
Come around after the fold and let's look at Mr. Frank's answers to this question and some of my thoughts.
Thomas Frank suggests several reasons why organized labor and working people still get screwed when Democrats have power:
Why does labor always get it in the neck?
First, there are those Democrats who don't care much for labor to begin with. Then there is the wide spectrum of Democratic donors and supporters who simply don't understand the problems of blue-collar life.
snip
Or maybe it's just the money. Consider the lineup of lobbyists that retail giant Wal-Mart has assembled to make its case against EFCA. According to lobbying disclosure forms filed with the House and Senate we find that Wal-Mart's lobbyists include Mehlman Vogel Castagnetti (which employs former presidential candidate John Kerry's liaison to Congress during the 2004 campaign), a former legislative director for Rahm Emanuel, and a former assistant to Arkansas Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln.
snip
The disclosure form for its Wal-Mart EFCA activities lists a former assistant to Labor Secretary Hilda Solis. The bio of its principal, Ingrid Duran, who is also listed as a Wal-Mart lobbyist, declares that the firm's mission is "to increase the role of corporate, legislative and philanthropic efforts in addressing the concerns of Latinos, women, and gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) communities."
Maybe the day will come when those communities are correctly addressed by corporations and the rest. But when their "concerns" turn in the direction of bargaining with their employers, they're on their own.
Thomas Frank: Card Check Is Dead Some Democrats only care about labor's money.
Andy Stern, head of the SEIU, recognizes that the Democratic Party has not made this a priority and, that while President Obama does support EFCA, he has not made it a priority:
Stern and SEIU secretary treasurer Anna Burger said they have not given up on getting 60 votes for card-check, saying that they still hold out hope that Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), the only Republican to support the bill in 2007, could yet reverse his declaration against the bill last month. "Oh sure," Burger said about the chances of Specter flipping back. "This is Arlen Specter we're talking about."
But they also acknowledged that, for now, they are having to search for their 60 votes without any help from President Obama, who has expressed support for card-check but not made it a priority.
"The President has said he has a series of things -- that we agree that he needs to get done -- which are major for every man woman and child, like health care, like the budget, like financial regulation," Stern said. "We respect that we have a job to do to line up enough votes without him. I don't think there's any question that he says there will be a vote, that this bill's time has arrived and he will do whatever is in his power to bring this home. We just aren't there yet."
WaPo: Stern Considers Alternatives to EFCA
This is not a critique by me of President Obama. He has been good on EFCA, and I truly think he is a committed supporter of unions and working people. He believes in collective bargaining.
It is, however, a critique of Senators like Jim Webb, Blanche Lincoln and others who have backed away from EFCA, now that we have a President who will not veto a bill.
Too many Democrats have taken money and volunteer labor from unions but failed to stand with unions.
I'm not affiliated with any union, so I can say what they cannot. If "Democrats" like Lincoln and Webb fuck with working people and undermine labor, working people will fuck back.
The Democratic Party had better get its shit together, because if they think they can screw working people as was done with NAFTA in 1993, they may learn the hard way AGAIN. (speaking for me only)