> Nathan Newman wrote:
>
> > I always find these discussions kind of bizarre--
> unions not only directly
> > have $5-6 billion annually in income, but they
> indirectly control or
> > influence trillions of dollars in private and
> public pension fund monies.
By the same logic, we should not write off the banking industry, which also has billions in income and employs millions of people.
The question was not whether the unions have resources, but whether they use them to further progressive causes, and I do not think the answer to it is automatically affirmative. Raising wages for their members by itself is NOT a progressive cause - if it were, corporate executives or AMA would be in the forefront of the progressive movement. To be progressive, an organization needs to be more than just a wage cartel - it needs to deliver, or at least struggle for, public goods that are universally available.
So to answer your post - the issue at hand is not ignoring union resources, as you claim, but determining whether these resources can be used fo further progressive causes. Fitch claims that they cannot because of the structural features of trade unionism in the US. If memory serves, Keith Bradsher (_High and Mighty__ advances a similar argument (albeit tangential to his main subject) that autoworkers unions went to bed with the auto industry bosses to subvert the government vehicle safety regulations and create the SUV craze. Such a tradeoff of public safety and clean air for jobs for a few certainly does not sound awfully progressive.
I am not necessarily siding with these arguments, but I am not dismissing them either. These are valid arguments that need to be taken and answered seriously. Sweeping them under the rug will not make them go away - au contraire it is ceding the ground to the conservatives who, no doubt, will provide their own answers.
To be more specific, the question that needs to be answered is whether the unions can turn their resources to progressive causes, and if so, which ones and under what conditions. Forking money over to the DNC does not necessarily constitute a progressive cause, universal health care, clean environment, living wage laws, public services and investment in education, husing and public transportation are. Can union resources support these causes, and if so, when and under what conditions?
Wojtek
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