Ever since the 1972 Democratic convention nominated George McGovern over the objections of the AFL-CIO, the standard wisdom has been that organized labor’s power in American politics has declined dramatically. The failure of the current Democrat-dominated Congress to pass labor’s highest legislative priority, the Employee Free Choice Act (”card check”), is taken as indicative of unions’ political incapacity. But the picture looks very different on the state and local level where public sector employee unions have gone from one victory to another. Indeed, they are the one group, besides Goldman Sachs executives, that’s done well during the current Great Recession. Public sector unions have become political powerhouses in New York, New Jersey, Washington, California, and a host of other states. They have become so powerful as to threaten the Madisonian system set up to constrain any one faction from overwhelming the public interest.
Related posts:
- Public Sector Employment Rising While Private Sector Employment Falling
- States Sink In Trillion Dollar Benefits Hole
- Union President Randi Weingarten: Schools, Unions Best Agents for ‘Social Justice’
- Democrats and Unions Pour Cash Into Frantic Effort To Save 60 Seat Majority
- Most Union Members Now Work for Government
