>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.
I think they understand the check-writing mechanism very well, so I wouldn't doubt their expertise on the matter. But the AFL-CIO does get out the vote work on behalf of member unions; they can't do that for nonmember unions. And the C2W gang was explicit on shifting money out of political contributions and into organizing - guess whose bank accounts that will affect.
If the split does result in better organizing, then it would be good for the Dems over the longer term. If it doesn't, then it isn't.
Doug