[lbo-talk] more on The Split

John Lacny jlacny at earthlink.net
Tue Jul 26 17:05:34 PDT 2005


Nathan Newman:


> It's a funny thing. No one mentions the NEA, which is a powerhouse
> in politics, works closely with other unions and the Democrats in
> politics, yet isn't a member of the AFL-CIO.

The NEA is arguably the most-demonized union in the United States, a prime rhetorical target of the right and notoriously labeled a "terrorist" organization by Rod Paige. I think they especially piss off the right because they're the more rural of the teachers' unions, and they represent the local people who come into most direct conflict with the right's yahoo base. So many small towns in this country are an updated version of a French rural town of the Third Republic, with the parish priest on the right and the school teacher on the left.

To get back to the point, though, Nathan is right -- as he usually is when it comes to discussions of labor on this list. No one has yet explained to me the mechanics of how some unions leaving the AFL-CIO is going to impact electoral politics negatively from the point of view of Democrats. All of the mobilization that the AFL-CIO and local labor councils do is done through the affiliated unions anyway -- and in many places, I would add, the bulk of the turnout tended to come from the unions who have left or are considering leaving. To the extent that top Democrats are worried, that's an indicator of how little they, too, understand how unions work.

- - - - - - - - - - John Lacny http://www.johnlacny.com

Tell no lies, claim no easy victories



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