John Lacny wrote:
>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.
-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.
First, individual unions usually do turnout among their own members, both because it's more effective and the AFL-CIO doesn't have the staff to do it in most places. Secondly, the last election saw unions shifting some of that work to 527s like America Coming Together, so their is no reason that all unions can't coordinate through those kinds of vehicles.
We'll see how much less money is actually spent on politics overall-- remember, SEIU spent a hell of a lot. What the debate was over was not just spending on politics but what the AFL-CIO should be spending its limited joint funds on.
-- Nathan newman