Nathan Newman wrote:
> Junior's bidding for the self-interest of his union, bartering support for
> ANWR for a promise of Project Labor Agreements - apparently on the order
> of
> a guaranteed additional 25,000 members for the Teamsters. He's getting
> the
> Dems to support him on trucking rules.
.
-Why can't Tom Daschle peel off the Teamsters by offering them twice as many
-guaranteed union jobs converting homes to solar power or something? Would
-that be too fiscally indisciplined?
No, it's because Dashcle can't deliver pro-union legislation over a GOP filibuster and Presidential veto. The Project Labor Agreement embedded in the energy bill is an amazing concession by a Republican administration, strategically brilliant, and it shows how much ideologically Bush is willing to throw overboard to pay off his big oil friends.
Bush made a similar move on steel imports - he's trying to buy off the traditional "Reagan Democrat" unionists with carefully selected policies.
-- Nathan Newman
Seth