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Friday, August 10, 2018

Spanking unions.

Unionism is a bedrock of workers having any voice whatsoever, and that is why historically they were brutally fought by capital.

We all know that. However, respect needs to be earned and venal politics out of the unions shows venal unions.

The Intercept, "Carpenters, Steamfitters, and Other Trade Unions Coalesced Around Notorious Ferguson Prosecutor. Why?"

Unions in Minnesota have been helpful to the DFL on supplying people into GOTV efforts, door-knocking, and other campaign support functions, as volunteers, thus holding costs down so funds can be allocated other ways than for field support. However, union leadership has been less than stellar in delivering a rank-and-file vote behind their endorsements and their preferences.

When union leadership is wise by endorsing worthwhile or exceptionally good candidates, and rank-and-file rebellion happens, unions lose a bit of power in the party that way, but they do not lose respect.

HOWEVER - PICKING DREADFUL CANDIDATES IS PROBLEMATIC, BUT UNIONS DO IT.

Unions can really do incredibly dumb and counterprogressive things, and that deserves sunshine and disapprobation while being dumb union strategy with membership shrinkage and Supreme Court attack of the very rights to organize effectively. If keeping house squeakly clean politically unions likely would have more clout; FERGUSON BEING THE EXAMPLE PROVING THE RULE. Intercept reports:

The unions’ support for McCulloch is part of an emerging pattern. As a new Democratic insurgency has risen over the last year, unions have clung tightly to the old guard. In New York, they sided with Rep. Joe Crowley over Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and with Gov. Andrew Cuomo over Cynthia Nixon, even walking out of the Working Families Party on his orders. (In Missouri, the WFP supported Bell.) And the union backing is not limited to incumbents. Unions were firmly behind Gretchen Whitmer, who defeated Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan’s gubernatorial primary, for instance, and with Brad Ashford, a conservative Democrat who lost to insurgent Kara Eastman in an Omaha, Nebraska, congressional primary.

One of the only places where the pattern doesn’t hold is in the U.S. Senate race in California, where labor is backing Kevin de León over incumbent Sen. Dianne Feinstein. That support has more to do with de León’s record in the state Senate than it does with him being the insurgent in that race. As the Senate leader, he was an establishment figure, albeit a progressive one, and one that delivered for labor.

McCulloch was widely criticized for his apparently purposeful inability to get an indictment against Darren Wilson, the Ferguson police officer who fatally shot Mike Brown four years ago to the day. He never indicted a police officer for killing an unarmed civilian throughout his 27-year tenure. Bell, meanwhile, vowed a different approach. He told the New York Times that he will appoint an independent special prosecutor to police shooting cases, and that he will make prosecutor’s office data available to the public to ensure transparency and facilitate discussion addressing racial disparities. He also pledged to end cash bail, to stop prosecuting low-level marijuana offenses, and to work toward rolling back mass incarceration.

Bell’s effort had the support of a slew of local activist organizations, as well as national ones such as Real Justice PAC (which is affiliated with The Intercept columnist Shaun King), Color of Change, and the American Civil Liberties Union.

While the unions were giving money to McCulloch, they were also working to turn out the vote in an effort to beat back a “right-to-work” law that would have crippled unions in the state. Voters on Tuesday voted down the law by a landslide — a victory for workers — but the increased union turnout likely also made the prosecutor’s race closer than it otherwise would have been, though it’s impossible to know for sure without exit polling.

Bell was elected St. Louis County prosecutor with 57 percent to McCulloch’s 43 percent of the vote. The statewide measure on union rights, known as Proposition A, was meanwhile opposed by 73 percent of voters, with about two-thirds of the overall votes being cast in St. Louis County.

The results suggest that most progressives who voted for Bell also sided with the unions in solidarity. The unions, meanwhile, voted for their own interests on the right-to-work law, but voted against the criminal justice reform movement.

So, progressives support unions and uniionization rights, while in turn union leadership worked to undermine progressive reform.

Is there anything much dumber than that? Those clowns must subliminally have some kind of collective death wish. Leadership must clean up their act because if unions alienate progressives and lose progressive support, they're Scott Walker's lunch.

Please go beyond the excerpt to read the entire lengthy but well presented Intercept item. Also note that the public employees and teachers unions have been among the best in recognizing what's in their best political interests and showing solidarity in following it. They are the more educated union workers, so are grifters like Trump and bank lobbyist Pawlenty postured to deceive dummies?

(Is the Pope Catholic represents a harder question to answer "Yes!")

Also note that the Roberts henchpersons-on-bench seem to have gladly done their best to do in that which is effective but anethma to their political anti-labor biases. Mediocrity on the bench parallels the mediocrity of those naming appointees to the Court.

Borks for Republicans
could be a slogan. And if you challenge the Bork, they raise a middle-finger and give you a Scalia. Have a nice day, and vote smart.