Frank:
Interesting observation on why Gore's Web site doesn't salute organized labor. Gore certainly isn't ashamed of the backing he has received from organized labor. He did actively seek the AFL-CIO endorsement. Perhaps the answer is that some endorsements are still forthcoming. The Teamsters, for instance, have yet to decide whom to endorse. And other endorsements -- UAW's, for instance -- have only come within the past month or two. I think it may more be a case of wanting to be accurate on the Web site rather than slighting this important segment of his voting base. (For instance, Gore can't say "Supported by organized labor" on the Web site if the Teamsters endorse Bush, can he?)
As a member of a labor union, let me make a few observations:
The term "organized labor" doesn't carry the clout politically as it once did. In its heyday, organized labor represented, what, 2 out of every 5 workers? It was industrial-based, controlled by people like Jimmy Hoffa. What's the figure now for organized labor? Maybe 17 percent? I'm just guessing at the numbers, but I think I'm in the ballpark.
The term "organized labor" covers an ever widening variety of people nowadays: doctors, for crying out loud, are organizing their own unions to combat HMOs. Some 21-year-old kid was written up in the papers a few years ago for trying to organize eight workers at a local McDonald's. Wal-Mart recently experienced its first organizing drive at one of its stores. (I'll bet that store manager is working elsewhere.) Union workers include airline workers (including pilots, some of whom make $130,000 a year), graduate students, teachers, communications workers (a growing segment), actors (wasn't Ronald Reagan president of the Screen Actors Guild?), symphony orchestra musicians, police officers, firefighters, health-care workers. This is in addition to the established industrial unions, some of which are still going strong.
You're right. Many of the above will vote GOP in the fall. I would be very interested in the percentages after all the ballots are tallied. |
