Could labor now at last understand the Democrats have Screwed every member of the UMW & voting "Green" would only make things worse?
Big Labor: Political Powerhouse, or Aging Relic?
By Justin Torres
CNS Senior Staff Writer
02 June, 2000
(CNSNews.com) - After losing the fight on Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China - its second loss on a major trade bill in the past six years - many labor organizers say they are reassessing their traditional support for the Democratic party, and pondering their future political moves.
Thursday, Teamsters President James Hoffa Jr., son of the legendary labor organizer James "Jimmy" Hoffa, said the truckers union is "reassessing" who its friends are among elected officials. The presidential endorsement of the 1.5 million member union, Hoffa suggested, was up for grabs.
"Maybe we won't make an endorsement at all, that's a possibility. And there's a possibility we'll endorse somebody, but we're just not in a position to make that announcement now," Hoffa told reporters at the National Press Club.
An endorsement of Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush or Green Party candidate Ralph Nader, said Hoffa, was "not out of the question." Hoffa added that the union's leadership plans to meet with the two candidates later this month.
The Teamsters have always prided themselves on not following what Hoffa Thursday called "the labor herd mentality": the union backed Republicans Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush's father, though it supported Bill Clinton in 1992 and declined to issue an endorsement in 1996.
But Stephen Yokich, head of the powerful United Auto Workers union, a traditional Democrat stronghold that is situated in the key electoral state of Michigan, made it clear after the PNTR vote that Vice President Al Gore may have a tough time mobilizing rank and file industrial union members.
"One moment, presidential candidate Gore is telling the labor movement that he believes human rights, workers' rights, and environmental protections should be included in core trade agreements," Yokich said in a statement. "The next, Vice President Gore is holding hands with the profiteers of the world and singing the praises of the U.S.-China WTO accession agreement while lobbying for PNTR for China."
Yokich indicated that the auto worker's union may back Green Party candidate Ralph Nader, saying, "It's time to forget about party labels and instead focus on supporting candidates . . . who will take a stand based on what is right, not what big money dictates."
Big labor is still reeling from its bitter loss on the PNTR bill, which was backed by the House GOP leadership and the administration. Along with labor's 1993 defeat over authorization of the North American Free Trade Agreement, some observers are increasingly beginning to ask -- Is big labor the political powerhouse it once was?
In his speech, Hoffa lambasted the leadership of the AFL-CIO, saying their early endorsement of Gore "gave away a tremendous bargaining point and tremendous leverage."
According to Hoffa, labor's support of Democrats, who then push free trade bills through Congress, has diluted the movement's ability to push its agenda. Democrats, said Hoffa, "take our support for granted."
But if union influence is waning, it may have more to do with sheer numbers than with bad strategic planning. Union membership, both in real numbers and as a percentage of the workforce, has declined dramatically since 1955, when one-third of the workforce - some 22 million workers - were represented by organized labor. The numbers become especially stark when membership numbers for non-industrial unions such as the National Education Association and government employee unions are factored.
The emerging high tech economy has not proved to be fertile ground for labor organizers - only one of every twenty employees entering the workforce is a union member. And unions are weakest in both the fastest-growing sectors of the economy and the fastest-growing region of the country, the "sunbelt" that stretches from the southeastern Atlantic Coast through Texas to Southern California's Silicon Valley.
According to David Rohde, a professor of political science at Michigan State University, big labor can no longer count on members to pay attention to endorsements, which further dilutes their political power.
"[Then-Presidential candidate] Dick Gephardt had union endorsements in 1992, and look what good they did him," said Rohde. "Union workers are perfectly capable of making their own electoral decisions and they're no longer reliable Democrats, though they still lean that way."
There's evidence for Rohde's assertion: a recent survey from pollster John Zogby found that Bush is supported by nearly 40 percent of union households, while Gore gets 47 percent of union household support, a figure Zogby calls "soft."
Still, union officials say they are pouring millions of dollars into recruiting and retaining members, and are determined to be important players in the political process.
"We're doing a better job of recruiting new members and we're going to reach out to new economy workers," said a spokesperson for the AFL-CIO, the nation's largest union umbrella organization.
Despite the setback on PNTR, the union spokesperson said, "working families realize which presidential candidate supports better working standards, a living wage and worker-protection clauses in international agreements, and it's not George W. Bush."
But Ken Boehm, chairman of the National Legal and Policy Center, which publishes a union watchdog newsletter, said unions have been "placed in an awkward position by the PNTR vote. . . . They're having a lot of trouble explaining to the rank and file why they should support candidates who abandon them on key votes like PNTR."
According to Boehm, the PNTR issue will likely "suppress union turnout in the next election. Where are these people going to go?"
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