Labor Unions Were The Other Losers On Election Day

townhall.com ^ | 12/8/2016 | Jason Hopkins

[rktman]

Democrats weren’t the only ones who lost big on Election Day. Labor unions lost in key states across the country in November. Having already had their power in several states constrained following the 2010 mid-terms, labor unions will now be forced to play defense in more states legislatures where Democrats have faltered anew.

Democrats lost control of the state House in Kentucky and the state Senate in Iowa. They also lost gubernatorial control in Missouri and New Hampshire. All four states will be under a Republican trifecta starting in 2017 – meaning their governors’ mansions and legislative chambers will be under complete GOP control.

This is bad news for union bosses because those pockets of Democratic checks on Republican power have been eliminated. GOP legislation has already been proposed in these states, but until now have been blocked by union-friendly lawmakers. This won’t be the case in January.

[rktman]

Tired of winning yet? Yeah, me neither.

[M Kehoe]

Yeah, this winning thing is fun.

5.56mm

[rktman]

It’s been a long time coming.

[The_Republic_Of_Maine]

Boy, is it ever!

[cableguymn]

Democrats also lost the Senate in Minnesota...

Now Gov mumbles is on his own.

[Pearls Before Swine]

DJT—If you’re staff is listening here, please do what you can to revoke JFK’s order allowing government unionization, particularly the SEIU. And, please get the NLRB under control!

[donozark]

Right to Work legislation already introduced in Missouri. Session starts Jan. 4. Reportedly will be one of the first items called up. Should be riotous!

Kentucky will begin working on similar legislation. Sure to pass. New Hampshire will need to push more Republicans to support RTW but they have the power to pass it. If they have the courage. Time to defund the Democrat supporting unions.

[kearnyirish2]

Government worker unions are much more dangerous that real trade unions; here in NJ they have made the state unaffordable (and I gather they did the same in California and Illinois).

[circlecity]

But given Trump’s position on trade deals, union members were big winners on election day. They won’t see a million of their jobs disappear to the pacific.

[central_va]

But given Trump’s position on trade deals, union members were big winners on election day. They won’t see a million of their jobs disappear to the pacific.

What you are saying here might be true if manufacturing in the USA was still being done by union labor. It is not. Only 10% of the manufacturing workforce is in a union. For the private sector labor force as a whole it is 7% and falling.

[raccoonradio]

NPR headline last March:
Trump Gains Support From Teamsters, Who Normally Vote For Democrats

Washington Times in May: Trump’s Union Support Scares Democrats

Politico, Sep.:
The union representing the nation’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and staff is throwing its support behind GOP nominee Donald Trump.

Breitbart last Jan:
The far-left progressive leader of the huge SEIU union admits that many or most of her blue-collar members are sympathetic to Donald Trump’s pro-American populist message.
“I am deeply concerned about what is stirring, even in our membership… where our members are responding to Trump’s message,” she told David Axelrod, the chief campaign strategist for President Barack Obama’s election in 2008.
Can you see Trump winning the election? Axelrod asked. “Yea, I could, I could,” said Mary Kay Henry, the international president of the Service Employees International Union.

(How’d Hillary do in the Rust Belt? Trump got 63 per cent in WV after she said she’d put the coal mines out of business.)

[Nifster]

The bosses of the unions were the big losers. They couldn’t deliver the so called base

[georgiarat]

The American federation of Government Employees is the main federal union of government workers. Ninety percent live in DC and suburbs.

[DUMBGRUNT]

Obama won 59 percent of union households in 2008. In 2016, Clinton only won 51 percent of their support.

I believe there are more than a few 'underground Trump voters'.

[Rusty0604]

I worked for a public employees union for years in CA, and you are absolutely correct. They buy the politicians, who in turn approve the union contracts, and pass legislation that will require more and more government employees, from prison guards to social workers and teachers, on and on.
The debt owed by each CA family owed for the government worker’s pension is up to $93,000.

[Pearls Before Swine]

Thanks. Somehow I got the apparently mistaken impression that SEIU was involved. But, same idea... JFK really screwed up here. Even FDR thought the concept of unionized government workers was awful.

[ari-freedom]

Union members win but not the union bosses

[kearnyirish2]

Absolutely; now anyone considering moving to CA or NJ (or opening a business/making money) is simply buying a piece of that giant IOU - a HUGE disincentive. Here in NJ so much current revenue disappears into that scheme little is left for current services. In the cities it is even worse; they can’t even afford cops anymore (because the teachers’ unions are stronger).