Tag: afl-cio

The AFL-CIO endorses… nobody?

Well, isn’t this interesting.

The AFL-CIO will not endorse Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders, according to a report from The Huffington Post.

Many of the nation’s top unions have thrown their weight behind Clinton, but AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka told members the federation is staying out of it.

This is, of course, not so much good news for Bernie Sanders as it is horrible news for Hillary Clinton.  At a guess, the AFL-CIO is hedging its bets. If Sanders wins, the union’s decision to stay out will look like a tacit support of him; but if Clinton wins, well, what can she do? She still needs the organization for the general election. It’s win-win! Continue reading The AFL-CIO endorses… nobody?

AFL-CIO base futilely calls for Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton.

Well, that was the problem, wasn’t it? “There was never any question that the powerful American Federation of Teachers — a union representing 1.6 million educators across the country — would endorse Hillary Clinton for president. But on Saturday, when the AFT became the first international labor union to make an endorsement in the contest by announcing its support of Clinton, it drew sharp criticism from teachers as well as other labor leaders, who questioned the timing amid Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ surge in popularity.”  Let me explain: when I first read that story, I shrugged and just went past those first two paragraphs. Of course the AFT is supporting Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders: Clinton has one of her followers – Randi Weingarten – running it, and Ms. Weingarten is utterly loyal to the Clinton machine. That’s almost certainly why she’s running the AFT, in fact: Clinton has a vested interest in putting her creatures in positions of purported authority.  This is, as the man says, how the Democratic Establishment do.

However, there is a certain percentage of rank-and-file hard labor supporters* who still cling to the charmingly retro position that picking a candidate to endorse should be a more collective decision. And the hard labor folks are getting rather agitated about the way that the AFT didn’t show solidarity with the rest of the AFL-CIO by endorsing early. You see, ostensibly the decision to endorse Hillary Cli… ah, ‘to endorse a Presidential candidate’… was supposed to be made in two weeks at AFL-CIO headquarters; presumably the labor movement would then speak as one voice, and all that. Now they have a potential division in the ranks. Continue reading AFL-CIO base futilely calls for Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton.

On behalf of the GOP, I would like to thank the AFL-CIO for NY-04 and CA-07.

Basically, the AFL-CIO will be attacking Rep. Kathleen Rice (NY-04) and Rep. Ami Bera (CA-07) for the next year and a half because both support TPP. Speaking as a Republican operative, I think that this is a marvelous idea. By all means, Big Labor: eat your own. I’ll happily pass you the salt. Maybe some pepper?  And a nice Chianti, to wash it all down. Continue reading On behalf of the GOP, I would like to thank the AFL-CIO for NY-04 and CA-07.

Big Labor prepared to burn ALL Democrats, do you hear me?!? ALL OF THEM!!!!!!1!!!!

(H/T: Instapundit) This bit from Roll Call on how Big Labor is simply… not answering calls from any Democrat is a good bit:

“We’re getting close to the end of the second quarter now … and now the answer they give us is, ‘Even if you vote no on TPA and no on TPP, you still may not get checks because we may be trying to take out people who did vote for it,’ ” said one House Democratic aide. “It’s not like they are going to reward good behavior. Now they’re saying, ‘We may have to take our money elsewhere.’ ”

But it’s not the funny bit. This is the funny bit:

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Obama will come to the aid of any Democrat who finds themselves in primary peril because of backlash for supporting the “fast-track” bill.

“Those who are concerned about it I think do take a lot of solace in knowing that they can count on the support of President Barack Obama in a Democratic primary if they need it,” Earnest said.

Continue reading Big Labor prepared to burn ALL Democrats, do you hear me?!? ALL OF THEM!!!!!!1!!!!

Big Labor apologists overlook hidden lede of Unionmade flap.

Short version: some California chain selling men’s clothing is calling itself “Unionmade” when it’s not particularly featuring stuff made by unions, and the AFL-CIO is getting shirty about it.  But here’s the point/counterpoint kicker:

“We sell really beautiful well-made products. Products I’ve always liked,” [Unionmade founder Todd] Barket told me. “Our clothing is honest and straightforward. Everything has a reason for being there. Good design. High quality. Not too tricky. Any guy can walk in and understand what we’re presenting. Everything is really understandable.”

[snip]

…only about three to five percent of the items sold at Unionmade are union-made.

Translation: union-made products are pretty much crap quality these days.  I think that the AFL-CIO should probably worry about THAT more.

Moe Lane

Dick Trumka makes empty threat to Democrats.

Alternative title: Dick Trumka’s ego writes checks the AFL/CIO can’t cash. To summarize, the Hill article reports that Trumka is kind-of, sort-of threatening that if the Democratic party doesn’t pay more attention to Big Labor, then Big Labor will start thinking about going politically shopping elsewhere. This is an… interesting proposition, to be sure – given that Trumka does not exactly say where Big Labor was planning to go politically shopping.

I mean, obviously it’s not going to be the GOP. Our party loathes the public sector union leadership cadre that has been raiding the public treasury for decades; besides, those people are more reliably Democratic voters than even dead people are. As for private sector unions… well. There’s a sharp dividing line* there anyway. People below that line are actually not particularly going to lockstep their votes for the Democrats anyway; and people above it are bluffing. More to the point: everybody knows it.

So I suggest that Dick Trumka stop wasting his betters’ valuable time by making empty threats. His faction is a fully-owned subsidiary of the Democratic party’s rich, idle elite… and the Republican party doesn’t need any of his particular brand of sycophancy anyway. God knows we have enough of our own to suppress, and to keep suppressed, so why should we get involved in what is essentially a temper tantrum by the Democratic party’s subordinates?

Via @laborunionrpt. Continue reading Dick Trumka makes empty threat to Democrats.

Mayors inexplicably upset over White House’s priorities.

This is fascinating, really:


Mayors angry with White House no-show

America’s big-city mayors are steaming over what they view as “a very dangerous precedent” set by the Obama administration in its decision to shun the U.S. Conference of Mayors annual meeting in Providence, R.I., this week.

In its attempt to honor the picket line of a local firefighters union involved in a labor dispute with the city, the administration has inadvertently angered some of its staunchest supporters in urban America, who argue that by declining to send an official contingent to the three-day mayors’ conference, the administration is caving in to labor and snubbing local governments
at a time of economic strife.

“It was a horrible decision,” said Mayor Michael Pizzi, an independent from Miami Lakes, Fla. “No matter where Obama goes, no matter what city you go to in the United States, you’re going to have some union that’s having problems.”

Continue reading Mayors inexplicably upset over White House’s priorities.