Despite unions' decline, Dems still court votes-Labor can still walk precincts and mobilize workers

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.suntimes.com/news/hunter/534586,CST-NWS-hunter30.article

Despite unions' decline, Dems still court votes
Labor can still walk precincts and mobilize workers

August 30, 2007
BY JENNIFER HUNTER Staff Reporter
Labor Day approaches. . . . As I have followed the Democratic presidential candidates through Iowa, Nevada and California, I have watched them courting labor, from the Service Employees International Union in Las Vegas to chapters of the AFL-CIO across Iowa.

I have watched them walking the picket lines (for 10 minutes to get a photo op); I have watched them vow to enact the Employee Free Choice Act, which would make union organizing easier; I have watched them denounce free trade agreements that aren't labor-friendly.

But with organized labor a shrinking segment of the work force, aren't the union-friendly Democrats at risk of alienating independent voters who may not be union members? Shouldn't they be focused far more on other, growing constituencies, such as the environmental movement?

The statistics for union growth, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, are depressing, impacted by the growth of global trade and the shrinking manufacturing sector:

• • Last year, 12 percent of the nation's work force was unionized.

• • Union membership has dropped every year since at least 1983, when 20.1 percent of U.S. workers were union members. (Earlier comparable figures were not available.)

FULL story at link.

[saltpoint]

1. You betcha. I met a Union man in California when I lived there

and he was deeply commited to electing progressive Democrats and one of the most inspiring people you could hope to run into.

And there's a lot more like him across the country, in unions, or wishing to be, and they represent a hell of a lot of blue votes.

This weekend is a good time to count these folks as our allies.

Recommended.

[LittleClarkie]

2. I'll not forget the help they were and still are come election time

They are always there with phones, people and sharing their facilities. They have been a fantastic partner.

Damn skippy we'll court them.