While I fully understand that there are still places in this country where one must belong to a union, although fewer than there once were, at least in the private sector, there does seem to be a small percentage of union members who are now beginning to object to how those unions spend the millions of dollars acquired by way of dues members are required to pay. Now granted, I think we can all safely agree that the same cannot be said of public sector union members who, I’m quite sure, enthusiastically endorse the spending of their dues money to support big government Democrats. And I dare say that the IRS is perfectly fine with that. But I digress.
So it should, I suppose, come as a surprise to no one that the motivate factor here is the fear that Republicans will end up controlling both the House and the Senate after the November midterm elections. So labor unions, both private and public sector, are now pouring vast amounts of money into those races considered as being crucial to maintaining the unions’ very existence. Thus far in the 2013-2014 election cycle, the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) reports that labor groups have spent a grand total $72,665,600, with nearly 90 percent going to Democrats and roughly 10 percent to Republicans. Which I’m sure is quite typiocal.
According to William Spriggs, chief economist for the AFL-CIO, which has spent $5.7 Million so far, "There's a lot of room for mischief in a Senate that's under Republican leadership." Unions are concerned that if Republicans are successful in their attempt to take control of the Senate and are able to retain control of the House, administration rulings deemed by unions to be favorable to their ‘cause’ such as updating parameters of overtime pay, raising minimum wage for federal contractors and National Labor Relations Board rulings allowing the creation of "micro-unions" within companies could be eliminated by Republicans.
And it was Ross Eisenbrey of the Economic Policy Institute who told The Hill, "The Republicans are opposed to everything the Labor Department has announced." He went on to say, "You can imagine riders that will be written into omnibus bills to block all of them." Unions are said to be focusing their contributions in key states such as Iowa, Colorado, Michigan and Alaska, where Republican victories likely could sway control of the Senate. AFL-CIO spokesman Jeff Hauser also told The Hill, "We wish that the Republican Party were not an enemy of working people, but too often — and too much of it, currently is."
Such a claim by Mr. Hauser is nothing but pure propaganda, and he knows it. And many union members are coming to recognize it as such. Because when it comes to such issues as Barry "Almighty's" refusal to approve the Keystone pipeline project, Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) regulations which have put hundreds of thousands of coal mining jobs at risk and unhappiness with increased costs on union health insurance plans through Obamacare provisions, many former pro-Barry "Almighty" union members have now turned against the president's party. These people aren’t stupid, and many are finally beginning to wake up!
A perfect example of that is the fact that over 40,000 members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) deserted the AFL-CIO for being "in lockstep" with the administration of Barry & Co., with ILWU President Robert McElltath stating, "President Obama ran on a platform that he would not tax medical plans, yet the Federation (AFL-CIO) later lobbied affiliates to support a bill that taxed our health care plans," the Washington Free Beacon reported. More people must wake up to the fact that the true enemy of working people are the liberal Democrats who are determined to destroy our economy and the middle class with it.
The Republican National Committee (RNC) has lobbied labor interests hard on those issues, publishing statements by the United Mine Workers that proposed EPA regulations would cost 485,000 jobs and quoting Terry O'Sullivan, president of the Laborers' International Union of North America, saying of the Keystone Pipeline: "It's not the oil that's dirty, it’s the politics. Once again, the administration is making a political calculation instead of doing what is right for the country." Strange language to be heard coming from someone in a position of leadership of a union. And it’s something that we need to be hearing a lot more of.
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