Union Election Requires Photo ID; Politico Fails to Note Irony

By Tom Blumer
December 12, 2011

On Wednesday, the Politico ran a story about the International Association of Machinists Union at Boeing agreeing to approve a contract extension, the result of which ultimately led to the National Labor Relations Board dropping its controversial decision to prevent the company from beginning to operate a mostly-constructed plant in South Carolina.

Though it deserves separate commentary, that decision is not the subject of this post. What is germane at the moment is the howler of a photo accompanying the Politico's report which appears after the jump.

Here it is:

You're not seeing things.

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) has given 99% of its campaign money to Democrats (according to ElectionLawCenter.com, citing OpenSecrets.org). Democrats, including Obama administration Attorney General Eric Holder, who will be in Austin, Texas tomorrow supporting the rejection of voter-ID laws and, according to the Texas GOP, "NAACP plans to involve the United Nations on (sic) US elections," abhor the idea of making voters bring some form of photo identification to the polls.

Yet the IAM in the instance photographed required a photo ID of all who wished to vote in a contract ratification election. From the looks of the professionally made sign, the photo-ID requirement in the union's elections would appear to be far from an isolated instance. Gosh, I wonder why?

Doug Ross's reaction: "Needle on Hypocrisy-Meter Breaks Off."

At some point during all these years of covering the voter-ID issue, you would think that someone in the press, much of which is unionized (specifically the Associated Press, which has the credit for the photo above), would have noted that unions at least occasionally and likely far more than occasionally require that members present a photo ID to be able to cast their ballots. Nope. How typically irresponsible.

Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.