Democrats Join the Raid On Union Bargaining Rights

From the latest issue of Labor Notes:

Politicians of both parties have been tough on public employees in this recession, balancing state and city budgets through layoffs, wage freezes, furloughs, and benefit cuts. But rarely have labor-backed Democrats targeted the very right of public employees to collectively bargain.

That’s now changing. In Massachusetts, New Jersey, Illinois, and Connecticut, Democratic legislators, eager to save money, are betting they can cut into public employee bargaining rights and still win union backing at election time.

It’s a tightrope for the pols. Democrats get most of their campaign funding—72 percent nationally—from business, AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka said this month. He added that the union share of the Democrats’ war chest has fallen to half what it was a decade ago.

But union money is still substantial. AFSCME claimed top place in all political spending in 2010, pouring $87.5 million into campaigns.

And union get-out-the-vote efforts can make or break some races. Union-household voters increased both Obama’s percentage and that for House Democrats by 2.4 points in 2008.

Legislators need to keep unions in the fold. How much can they go against core union desires and still win their backing?

Precedent says—a lot. Year after year, union leaders look at the greater-evil Republican alternative and urge members to work for the Democrat, no matter how sorry the candidate.

In New Jersey, the Communications Workers, representing 45,000 state and local government employees, dogged Democratic Governor Jon Corzine’s heels for months in 2009, protesting his plan to cut their wages through furloughs. But CWA endorsed Corzine when he was up against layoff-happy Republican Chris Christie.

As Republicans like Christie and Wisconsin’s Scott Walker tilt further to the Tea Party right, the desire to keep them out of office at all costs becomes even stronger. After all, Walker’s ilk wants to do away with public sector unions—and their donations to Democrats—altogether. Democratic politicians are banking on that dime’s worth of difference.

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