The State of the Unions

 Power (back) to the People

It’s becoming clear that organized labor is no longer focused on protecting workers from abuse; it’s now about political power, bought largely with dollars obtained from mandatory union dues

“Organized labor spends about four times as much on politics and lobbying as generally thought, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis, a finding that shines a light on an aspect of labor's political activity that has often been overlooked.”  Read more here

(WSJ subscribers can access the full article, video, and interactive graph detailing union donations here)

 

And political recipients of union money are happy to reciprocate 

“…the government could have executed the [auto industry] bailout with no net cost to taxpayers. It could have—had the Administration required the United Auto Workers (UAW) to accept standard bankruptcy concessions instead of granting the union preferential treatment. The extra UAW subsidies cost $26.5 billion—more than the entire foreign aid budget in 2011. The Administration did not need to lose money to keep GM and Chrysler operating. The Detroit auto bailout was, in fact, a UAW bailout.”  Read more here

 
But voters – including union members – are waking up.  Are unions beginning to collapse?

“The unions realized that if they lost the mandatory dues and collection their membership would fall, and they were right. The Wall Street Journal reported that between March 2011 and February 2012 the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union in Wisconsin lost 45 percent of its dues-paying members. The unions’ failure to recall Gov. Scott Walker in Wisconsin marks the start of their decline… Many states are implementing bills and advancing efforts to defeat powerful union organizers to empower the workers instead. This is just the beginning; voters have had enough—others will follow.” Read more here

Will Walker’s leadership inspire others to stand up to union bullying? 

If so, Democrats lose big