CNN: Labor still has clout in political arena

[Omaha Steve]

By Sasha Johnson
CNN Washington Bureau

CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) -- There's a good reason why Democratic candidates court the support of organized labor.

"You often hear people talk about labor in decline, that unions are irrelevant, unions are dinosaurs, that they no longer matter, but in the political arena there's a different story," said Peter Francia, author of "The Future of Organized Labor in American Politics."

"I think organized labor is sometimes underestimated because their share of the work force, the percentage of workers who belong to unions, has dropped off precipitously," Francia said.


Chuck Crull, left, speaks with former Sen. John Edwards at IBEW Local 405 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Monday.

Union households make up roughly a quarter of the electorate in most elections. Almost 60 percent of them voted for former Vice President Al Gore in 2000 and for Sen. John Kerry, D-Massachusetts, in 2004.

During the 2006 congressional elections, the AFL-CIO's political program boasted its volunteers knocked on more than 8 million doors and reached out to 30 million voters, many in the union-rich and politically crucial states of Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan.

Seven of the 2008 Democratic presidential contenders will gather Tuesday night at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois, to try to woo that support.

FULL article at link.

[SteppingRazor]

1. But what's the trend?

Yeah, unions are still relevant ... but for how long? With our seeming inability to enforce laws that bar employers from hiring illegal aliens, plus right-to-work laws and the process of unionization getting more and more difficult, what's the future for unions?

And without a proper counterbalance for the power of corporations, what's the future for American workers in general, unionized or not?

Grim stuff.

[Virginia Dare]

2. History will repeat itself..

they will go back to their bread and butter: the immigrants. It's largely being ignored in many areas, specifically the MSM, but the Latino population in this country is getting very angry and active. They will turn to unions for help and support, and the unions will be there for them.