Posted by
flagwaver on Saturday, May 16, 2009 5:21:40 PM
Once upon a time labor unions were all about protecting the interests of their dues paying members; making sure that they had safe working condidtions, fair wages, good benefits, and solid pension plans. They were not overtly political, in that their politics were all about getting what they could from management and to their members. They didn't care what political party you were from as a candidate, so long as you were on their side they were on yours.
Times have definitely changed, as the union bosses have morphed their unions from their original purposes of looking out for workers to being politcal heavyweights and king-makers. And the only kings they seek to make are members of a Party that is represented by a donkey...any others need not apply. The vast majority of unions, at least their leadership, are not really independent entities but fundraising arms of the Democratic Party, that demand politcal favors in return for their cash contributions.
Now with Barack Obama safely ensconced in the Oval Office, the unions are in a more powerful position than they have ever been before. There have been numerous pro-union presidents who have served, but none so willing to turn power over to the unions as Mr. Obama. There are two very high profile cases that illustrate that the unions have become less king-makers in this administration and have taken on the role of a quasi-king: the cases of the SEIU and the UAW.
By now everyone knows how the UAW has benefitted from their close alliance with the Obama administration. For a mere $4.9 million the UAW has basically been rewarded with ownership stakes in both Chrysler and General Motors (or what's left of them); a 40% stake in GM and about 55% of Chrysler. But worse than that, the adminstration willing abrogated existing bankruptcy laws by attempting to strong arm Chrysler's secured creditors to take 33 cents/dollar on their debt, while guaranteeing the UAW 50 cents/dollar; and in the case of GM the secured creditors were only given a 10% stake in the company, while the UAW got the aforementioned 40%. Now the stock and stake in the company may not be worth very much right now, but if the companies manage to rebound under government supervision, however unlikely, it still is amazing that for a mere $4.9 million the UAW has been given control of two of the Big Three carmakers...after their unreasonable demands and unsustainable retirement benefits helped drive the companies over the cliff. That is serious ROI, my friends.
The curious case of the SEIU is more of the same, but on a grander scale. In an administration that made much noise about keeping lobbyists out of the loop, it is a sight to see a union actually shaping White House policy. The state of California passed a measure recently that would have cut wages for home healthcare workers in the state, in a bid to create some budget relief for a state that is looking at a $20-plus billion deficit in the coming fiscal year...even with the savings created by this measure. According to a story in the Los Angeles Times, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger reported that the Obama administration threatened to pull $6.8 billion in stimulus funds alloctaed for the state because the decision to cut the wages of the home healthcare workers allegedly violates the stimulus law. The governor also stated that the adminstration sent a letter on April 30 affirming that the plan to cut the aforementioned wages violated the law, and later the administration set up a teleconference to discuss the situation. And guess who else was invited to be on the conference...that's right, the SEIU!
That apparently is what $33 million in campaign contributions buy you these days...total access to the White House decision making apparatus. The very group that represents the healthcare workers in California was invited to be a part of the talks between the US government and the California state government on whether or not federal monies would be withheld from the state! All because the SEIU handed over a large chunk of change to get Obama into office, they now get to help decide the fate of the state of California vis-a-vis the stimulus funds, and may help sink the state further in debt to satisfy their own short term interests.
From card check, to the UAW, to the SEIU strongarm job on the Governator, the Obama adminstration has shown exactly where its priorities and allegiances lie. They have not done a thing to really safeguard the jobs of the autoworkers; witness the talk of a revamped GM having to outsource the building of certain cars to Mexico to become profitable again. But they have paid off the people at the upper echelons of union management with their awarding the unions majority stakes in two of the formerly Big Three, and they are paying off the SEIU by undermining a bipartisan effort in Lefti...I mean CALIfornia to find a way out of their budget deficit by standing not with the state, but with the union. The destruction of the concept of federalism in this case notwithstanding, it is a truly scary sight to see a federal administration using its powers of persuasion and force against a state that is simply attempting to handle state business...all to benefit a powerful union contributor.
The way things are going, we are soon going to be forced to change our name from the United States of America to the Unionized States of America! And for some strange reason, I don't think this was what Lincoln, whom Obama claims so much to admire, meant when he said his first priority was to preserve the Union!