Posted on 11/18/2006 8:01:49 AM PST by george76
Unions spent more than $100 million getting out the vote, knocked on millions of doors and delivered Election Day support to Democrats running for the House by a more than 2-to-1 ratio.
Now organized labor is spelling out what it wants from the new Democratic Congress.
The priorities include raising the minimum wage, expanding health care and improving pension protections.
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney sees the elections as a "mandate for a union agenda."
Likewise, says Bill Samuel, legislative director for the AFL-CIO, "we have an opportunity to push our agenda...
The AFL-CIO executive council is scheduled to meet Tuesday to discuss various issues, including the legislative agenda.
The aggressive stance is a sharp turnaround from the past few years.
"There were days during the last six years when we were in a defensive crouch protecting 60 years of workplace advances," Samuel said.
Organized labor clearly expects the Democratic Congress to help pass pro-worker legislation after an unprecedented get- out-the-vote effort.
Organized labor spent an unprecedented amount of money for midterm elections on its get-out-the-vote-effort - $40 million by the AFL-CIO alone - with 187,000 union volunteers in the AFL-CIO program knocking on more than 3 million doors in the final four days.
Labor did more microtargeting of voters, but the most effective technique was still worker-to-worker contact.
(Excerpt) Read more at rockymountainnews.com ...
.
When the AFL-CIO merged in the 1950s, one of every three private-sector workers belonged to a labor union.
Now, only about 8 percent of private-sector workers are unionized.
One of the biggest in a long list of failures was the Republicans never passing Federal Right to Work laws.
Its gonna be a little hard to do since they also voted in San Fran Liberals who want open borders which in turn drives wages WAAAAAYYYYY DOOOWWWNNN!!! Anyway any wage increasw would be more than offset by the HIGHER TAXES these scum bring in. See unions you REALLY got to think these things thru, DUMBASSES!lol
and they wonder why the base is mad !
" ... never passing Federal Right to Work laws."
More of the same liberal media AP spin.
Notice there was nothing there (or in the body of the article) about Iraq or the "Culture of Corruption"...
Now they will try to do to the country what they did to GM and Ford!
A Nancy Pelosi Moment: 2 - Look for the Union Label
http://youtube.com/watch?v=PC1L03CFlrw
Veto, Veto, veto.
Union crap in budget bill, veto.
Union crap in appropriations bill....veto.
How I hate unions.
One of the things that helped turn me around politically was when I realised some of my union dues were being sent over seas to people like Nelson Mandela. It makes me wonder: how much money has Sweeney and co., sent to terrorists and Iraqi "insurgents"? I have never heard the claim before, but now I have to just wonder...
Unions can force non democrats to pay union dues and then spend the members dues on democrats.
Grrr
" Unions didn't have anything to do with the Dims winning the elections. "
do you have a link ?
The UAW has screwed up the Big 3 Auotomakers bigtime. The Dem Congress needs to reel them in.
plus the mob has gone in for their piece of the union dues, too.
Not just Jimmy Hoffa.
I am a "victim" of just that exact thing. I had to belong to the union for 8 years because of the job I had. Nothing galled me any more than for them to use my money to tell me to vote for people I would never vote for in a million years.
The day I took a different job that was not part of the bargaining unit was a very happy day for me.
No, the Rats will not like the $4 plan. Because it's not government. The problem with WalMart is that it's become a SUBSTITUTE for government. That's the last thing the Rats want.
Unfortunately, my state (NH) is not a right to work state.
Is there a union worker anywhere that works for the minimum wage, and if so, are they required to pay dues?
The minimum wage deal is another scam.
The union wages are often pegged to minimum wage plus X.
So when the minimum goes up...the union gets more dues, too.
What the heck does this mean? Against what? They spent $50 million more than who? They knocked on more doors than who? Another meaningless statistic.
Look at the bright side, agenda #22 is the members of the union who pay dues.
This may be true however the union leaders are focused on the members and NOT their own personal gains financially or politically.
I have a bridge over a swamp for sale are you interested?
Now, only about 8 percent of private-sector workers are unionized. "
That's a great figure for PRIVATE employers, but at the same time, GOVERNMENT employees have grown substantially in the Union memberships.
I cannot find one single reason for unions to still exist. The illegals on the West Coast are being seriously courted by the SEIU. There has to be some laws being broken in there somewhere.
WOW!
LOL !
" the union leaders are focused on the members and NOT their own personal gains financially or politically...."
Kissing up to illegal alien labor on the one hand, unions on the other. Oh dear. Whats a DUmmie to do?
That brings the union force workers down to 58% of the working force.....
They do give dems a ton of money.
The priorities include raising the minimum wage
Is there a union worker anywhere that works for the minimum wage, and if so, are they required to pay dues?""
Don't be fooled. EVERY Union contract has language in it in regard to the minimum wage. Of course, Unions don't get minimum wage rates for their members, but every time minimum wages go up, so do union wages. Some are a direct dollar for dollar increase, and some are a percentage thing.
Don't ever think that the union members don't have a serious stake in what level the "minimum" wage is. Your cost of living is going to increase, and so the circle continues, as union contracts have COL clauses also. The big losers in the raising of minimum wages is the number of people who will be laid off to cut the overhead, and the lower income people who have to pay more for their basic goods and services.
People with good college diplomas just don't connect the dots on this topic, IMO. Someone with better financial education needs to come forward and give us a clearer picture of the overall impact. Payroll taxes go up, and also Workmen's Comp overhead, as it is always based on GROSS wages.
Nothing for via attrition they have reached the pinnacle of confusion.
The unions claim they represent the little guy, yet they ran the company that my husband worked for, out of business, with a loss of thousands of jobs. It was the only thing keeping our little town alive. Now the majority of the people here are out of work, thanks to the union.
Actually 98% of their income is being used to find the remains of Jimmy Hoffa.
The last 2% will be used to build a shrine for him.
Yeah. Pretty stupid how they dug up that guys barn. LOL
A shrine for him for destroying the manufacturing jobs here in America...
Much of the rust belt is economically dead.
Japanese and European manufacturers who do set up factories in the US avoid the high cost states with aggressive unions. Thus these states get no new jobs and are losing their old jobs.
Companies with high costs of production ( including expensive union contracts ) will fail.
We consumers are smart enough to want a reasonable price.
The Rust Belt is nothing new.. I remember hearing about the Rust Belt in 80's ... Until the Midwest shape up.. More jobs and people are going to be moving out the Midwest..
States will aggressive unions not only lose jobs, but also much of their tax base.
When the businesses are destroyed by the union demands, then the tax revenue that the businesses were producing are gone, too.
And local civic charity donations die off.
I'm a former member of a union affiliated with the AFL-CIO, I'm now retired, and I can attest that the union sent me a political-themed flyer encouraging me to "get out and vote" for the entire slate of Democratic candidates. They didn't endorse even one Republican in my area.
John Edwards and Wal-Mart: Playstation Before Principle
November 17, 2006
http://mensnewsdaily.com/2006/11/17/john-edwards-and-wal-mart-playstation-before-principle/
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