Durning last eight years, unions felt that they were unfairly treated by the Bush administration. Now they are looking forward to a positive change in their fortunes.
Organized labor invested more than $300-million dollars to elect Democrats to political offices from the president down to congressional representatives. With a Democratic majority in both houses of representatives as well as a Democrat in the White House, organized labor looks forward to the fulfillment of its quid pro quo. To begin, organized labor expects the Employee Free Choice Act (aka “card checks”) to be passed and signed into law. The result, they feel, will be significantly more union members than currently exists. And by significant, they mean millions of more unionized workers!
Such an outcome would be disastrous for an American economy struggling with the burdens of a worsening recession. And even public sentiment may no longer be on the side of the unions, for everyone sees what negative effects where brought about by the onerous demands of the UAW on the auto industry. While the U. S. auto industry struggles to survive, its foreign-based competitors in right-to-work states are faring significantly better. No one, not even Democrats, want to see other U. S. industries suffer the way the Detroit auto makers have suffered.
If U. S. industries are to be competitive, it is essential that unions and their political allies do not encumber Corporate America with onerous demands. Even the legendary union spokesman, Samuel Gompers stated “unions have to work to make the companies successful….”
One hopes that concerns for the health of the U.S. economy will trump the purely political interests of our representatives and the selfish interests of organized labor.
