We have been hearing for moths now that the Right is split and and full of rancor and dis-unity. Well, now it turns out that the Left is having the same trouble. Trumka and the AFL-CIO are ditching the Democrats and heading out on their own. his is going to put a massive hole in the Democrat Party coffers and severely limit their manpower on the street.
The growing rift between labor and their Democratic allies was on full display Thursday, as AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka told reporters that labor groups are planning to scale back their involvement with the Democratic Party in advance of the 2012 elections.
Going forward, Trumka said, the labor movement will build up its own political structures and organizations rather than contribute to and depend on the Democratic Party’s political operation.
“We’re going to use a lot of our money to build structures that work for working people” Trumka said. “You’re going to see us give less money to build structures for others, and more of our money will be used to build our own structure.”Trumka’s remarks follow the news that the AFL-CIO will set up a so-called super PAC, allowing the nation’s largest labor federation to spend unlimited amounts of money on political activity for next year’s elections and beyond. Trumka confirmed Thursday that the union is moving forward with plans to create the PAC.
Labor has traditionally been a major contributor to Democratic candidates and causes around the country. Trumka said that their outside effort will help keep union-backed candidates more accountable for promises made on the campaign trail.
“Let’s assume we spent $100 in the last election,” he said, explaining the union’s position.
“The day after Election Day, we were no stronger than we were the day before,” said Trumka. “If we had spent that [$100] on creating a structure for working people that would be there year round, then we are stronger.”
Oh yes, it gets better!
Speaking to reporters at a breakfast sponsored by The Christian Science Monitor, Trumka also said that many in the labor movement are weighing whether to skip the party’s 2012 convention.
“There are some of our affiliates that aren’t going to participate,” said Trumka. “We’re still talking about it.”
Relations between labor and the Obama administration have cooled over outstanding issues like the failure to pass a union-backed card check bill that would ease organizing, as well as the administration’s support for free-trade agreements with Colombia, South Korea and Panama.
Well, not really. The Card Check issues is the concern of the higher up leadership. Card Check really doesn’t matter to the rank and file. The Free Trade agreements matter to the rank and file tho. And from what i am hearing through sources, many of the unions aren’t going to the dem convention NOT because they are on board with Trumka’s new PAC, but because they despise Obama.
The carpenters and joiners, electricians, plumbers etc. are out of work…and they are blaming Obama and the dems. They are also fed up with how far LEFT the Democrat party has gone in the past 10 years.
This might be the split where the rank and file of the union officially leaves the Democrat Party. They have seen the daylight, more work than they could take on under Bush, and now the night, unemployment under Obama.
Trumka articulated a broader critique of the Obama administration, telling reporters that the president has allowed Republicans to set the terms of debate — focusing on what he called a manufactured debt crisis instead of a jobs agenda.
So the Communist Trumka has finally gone all Trotsky on the Democrats and decided to take the fight into his own hands. That is fine with me. Any fractures on the Left make me smile!
