Posted on 06/07/2005 6:45:59 PM PDT by wagglebee
The president of America's national labor federation, the AFL-CIO, has won the support of a wavering union president by vowing to boost the labor movement's outreach to the Republican Party.
The AFL-CIO's president, John Sweeney, 71, who is up for re-election at a convention in Chicago next month, made the promise recently as he worked to beat back a challenge from dissenting unions that have charged Mr. Sweeney with moving too slowly to overhaul the labor federation.
The change in political strategy was disclosed yesterday by a labor leader who has long advocated a more bipartisan approach, Harold Schaitberger of the 250,000-member International Association of Fire Fighters.
(Excerpt) Read more at nysun.com ...
Yeah, with a baseball bat.
I hope the Republicans give him the finger.
A lot of 'rats' are jumping off a sinking ship..
After this statement, I can't wait to see the latest edition of "Solidarity."
The Rats may not be able to help them, but AFL-CIO overtures are a Trojan Horse.
Howard Dean is already paying dividends.
the AFL-CIO can reach out and grab my middle finger!
Yeah, right after they endorse same sex marriage and gay, lesbian and transgender "rights".
Mm hmm, yeah, most Republicans will be real impressed.
This only means one thing - the Republicans move further toward the center. The unions are incompatible with limited government/less government interference because they often have to use the force and might of the government to get what they want.
Many of the Republicans will be unwilling to turn their back on the contributions from the unions.
Get accustomed to being disappointed by the Republican majority if the AFL-CIO is successful in buddying up to many of them.
Sweeney is a socialist. His idea of "reaching out" to Republicans is with a noose in hand. Anyone that trusts this rapscallion has got to be very ignorant.
And weighting down the other ship to follow the metaphor ... watering down Republican principles, to be more exact.
Although the union bosses are big time Democrat supporters, the rank and file members are much, much less so. If the RATs keep embracing issues like gay marriage and gun control, we are going to see more and more labor union members abandon the party. This will increase the pressure on the labor bosses to do likewise.
If the labor bosses do ever leave, the RATs will have a tough time recovering. Unions provide much of the funding and virtually all of the manpower for many of the RAT candidates.
Although I don't think Boss Sweeney is the man to do it, his successor just might (fingers crossed).
It will never happen.
Who says we are letting the climb aboard? They can vote for whomever they want.. but many of us will fight for our core principal of the individual over the system.
Don't they know Republicans don't want handouts?
Back before the cultural revolution, union leaders like George Meany and members were social conservatives and patriotic supporters of the United States in the Cold War, as were many Democrat politicians.
All that has changed. Unions used to donate maybe 60/40 to the Democrats, which they obviously favored, but they were careful to keep their lines open to Republicans. Sweeney changed that to 100/0, and greatly increased the size of the donations. But the leadership got way out to the left of the membership on issues like abortion and homosexual "rights." I think this goes against Sweeney's preferences but that he sees the handwriting on the wall. Either be more responsive to the members, or get the boot.
This could be a big plus. Starting with clinton, the Unions became huge campaign donors to the Democrat party. If they go back to 60/40, or anywhere near it, it will undermine the Democrat campaign chests substantially.
Too late.
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