We all remember the brilliant speech that the AFL-CIO's Richard Trumka gave at the 2008 DNC, blasting the notion that any union member should vote against Barack Obama because of his race.
That speech needs to be watched (or given) again, as recent polling seems to suggest that more than a few folks in the industrial midwest are once again "uncomfortable" with the President. But in light of Romney's recent ad campaign accusing the "Italians" of moving Jeep production to China, and attempting to portray Romney as the pro-auto-industry candidate (despite "let Detroit go bankrupt"), it's time for Trumka and other labor leaders to step up to the plate with some brutally blunt language.
It's time for it to be put out in black and white:
Anyone who votes for Romney is a scab.
It should be that simple. I wouldn't make this claim in all election cycles--the GOP hasn't always been quite so dominated by Randian nitwits--but it is certainly true about this ticket. If you're in a union, then voting for Romney is the moral equivalent of crossing a picket line. Period.
Romney's "let Detroit go bankrupt", and similar sentiments by others in the GOP, weren't just clueless libertarian blather about markets and freedom and soshulism. Those opposing the auto bailout knew what they were doing--and what they were doing was trying to destroy the UAW. Oh, there probably would have been an auto industry left in the Great Lakes region, eventually--there's too many skilled workers and too much factories and tooling to abandon. But it might have been Toyota or someone else--and it certainly wouldn't have been union.
"Let Detroit go bankrupt" was all about screwing the workers, pure and simple. Mitt Romney, who due to his father's legacy can't simply plead ignorance, knows this. His entire political worldview--as evidenced by his selection of running mate, and his entire business career--is dominated by the belief that the American worker is overpaid, and that we're losing the race to the bottom.
Romney is a bigger threat to American labor than John McCain was. Or either Bush. He's Reagan-esque in one way, and one way only--his sheer hostility to the working class and to the notion that they deserve a seat at the table.
There is no good reason--whatsoever--for any working man to vote for this plutocrat. And America's labor leaders to make that point clear, in the strongest language possible. It can't come from the Obama campaign, or any of this other surrogates in the Democratic Party. It can only come from the men and women who lead the AFL-CIO and America's unions.
And it needs to be blunt.
If you're in a union and you vote for Romney, you're betraying your brothers and sisters. If you're in a union and you vote for Romney, you're a scab. No matter what the reason.