Swing Voters Recoil From Unions, and Obama

By Jack Kelly

Unions are all that protect America from "barbarians," Vice President Joe Biden said at a Labor Day rally in Cincinnati. But the only barbarian in evidence that day was Teamsters' President Jimmy Hoffa, who threatened to "take out" tea party critics of President Barack Obama's spending, albeit through the ballot box.

Mr. Hoffa was a warmup speaker for the president at the Labor Day rally in Detroit. Though he rarely misses an opportunity to lecture others on civility, Mr. Obama had no comment on Mr. Hoffa's remarkable incivility. And though the president didn't adopt Mr. Hoffa's threatening tone, he did imply his critics are unpatriotic.

A crowd that Detroit police estimated at 13,000 responded warmly to Mr. Obama. But when Candidate Obama spoke there in 2008, more than 30,000 came to hear him.

Unions have had few better friends than Mr. Obama. One of his first acts as president was to stiff Chrysler's bondholders to provide a windfall to the United Auto Workers. His National Labor Relations Board stretches the law to load the dice for unions.

But Mr. Obama has not been an effective friend, which is why the smiles of labor bigwigs seemed forced. They'd dreamed big dreams on Labor Day 2008. By Labor Day 2011, there were more nightmares than dreams.

Unions often lose representation elections, so their number one goal was "card check," which would dispense with secret ballots. Had Mr. Obama pushed card check when Democrats controlled both houses of Congress, it surely would have passed. He concentrated instead on Obamacare. This cost him popularity and Democrats the House.

Obamacare played a role in the pitiful end, for labor, of the Verizon strike. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the Communications Workers of America went on strike Aug. 7 to protest the company's plans to make union workers pay for health insurance. The change was needed, management said, because Obamacare will impose a 40 percent tax on "Cadillac" plans like Verizon's.

The strike was nasty. Management reported hundreds of acts of sabotage. A judge enjoined an IBEW local from, among other things, "throwing feces." But it was doomed, because union members are concentrated in Verizon's rapidly shrinking landline business. The unions called the strike off Aug. 20.

More than half of all union members today belong to public employee unions. These suffered a blow when Gov. Scott Walker's budget repair bill passed in Wisconsin. Among other things, the Wisconsin Education Association may no longer automatically deduct dues from teachers' paychecks.

When public employees are not required to pay union dues, most choose not to, noted columnist George F. Will. He wrote about how membership in the Colorado Association of Public Employees declined 70 percent after Colorado, in 2001, required annual votes reauthorizing collection of dues. Indiana stopped collecting dues from unionized public employees in 2005. There's been a 90 percent drop in dues paying members since then. When Washington state in 1992 ended automatic dues deductions for political activities, the percentage of teachers making such contributions fell from 82 to 11.

In Wisconsin, too. The teachers union announced Aug. 15 it would lay off 40 percent of its staff. The teaching assistants union at the University of Wisconsin announced Aug. 22 it would decertify.

Labor leaders fret they've gotten a poor return on the $400 million they spent to elect Democrats in 2008. Unions will reduce contributions to Democrats in 2012, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said Aug. 25. How vigorously unions support Mr. Obama depends on whether he abandons his current strategy of promoting "little nibbly things," Mr. Trumka said.

But the big things labor wants -- card check, a bailout of the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corp., massive pork barrel projects -- are out of reach. With GOP control of the House, the outlook even for "little nibbly things" is cloudy.

Labor's problems stem from our massive debt and dismal economy. They are exacerbated by thuggish behavior, and by the unwillingness of unions to tighten their belts as other Americans must.

President Obama is polling in Jimmy Carter territory. Unions are less popular now than in many decades. Mutual weakness will draw Democrats and unions closer, despite labor's discontents. But the closer to each other they get, the more swing voters will recoil from both.
Page Printed from: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/09/12/swing_voters_recoil_from_unions_and_obama_111296.html at September 13, 2011 - 03:56:23 AM PDT