Obama “I do not view the labor movement as part of the problem, to me it’s part of the solution.”
Biden to the AFL-CIO “We couldn’t have made it without all of you…It’s good to be home.”
Biden to AFSCME “We owe you.”
Andy Stern SEIU President “We spent a fortune to elect Barack Obama — $60.7 million to be exact — and we’re proud of it.”
AFSCME President Gerald McEntee “The payback would be Employee Free Choice Act – that would be a vehicle to strengthen and build the American labor movement”
Obama to AFL-CIO “And as we confront this crisis and work to provide health care to every American, rebuild our nation’s infrastructure, move toward a clean energy economy, and pass the Employee Free Choice Act, I want you to know that you will always have a seat at the table.”
As you can see this relationship is no secret. There are a lot of interesting deals going down in the department of labor in these first few months. It all starts with the people that have been put into positions of influence within the department. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis is a California representative who was funded by the labor unions. Three quarters of her campaign contributions came from unions and she has backed legislation in favor of unions ever since. You will find numerous other union friends in this administration. It started with the transition team. Labor transition leader Deborah Greenfield is an AFL-CIO lawyer who was a main player in last year’s lawsuit against the government to fight the LM-30 rule. T. Michael Kerr was the assistant to the secretary-treasurer at SEIU and now is the assistant secretary for administration and management at Labor. Patrick Gaspard, White House political affairs director, worked for the SEIU. Craig Becker was General Counsel for both the SEIU and the AFL-CIO and now also works in the Labor department. The labor coalition American Rights at Work is also represented in the administration with their director Mary Beth Maxwell. I am sure there are more, but those are a few I found with a quick search on the internet. So the tradition of bringing in your friends still exists, but this is business as usual in Washington. So what exactly have they done.
First there were 4 pro union executive orders signed by the President. One of which basically gives the labor secretary blacklisting power and another repealed a Bush executive order that helped ensure employees of federal contractors were informed of their rights. Then there was the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act that makes it easier for workers to sue employers.
There have also been some very questionable deals going on. In California a wage cut was enacted for home healthcare workers. The problem. These workers belonged to a politically powerful union. The Obama administrations response was to use $6.8 Billion in stimulus money as leverage to pressure the state to change their mind. Then we have the Chrysler auto deal. Obama proposed that Chrysler’s secured creditors get 28 cents on the dollar and the UAW get 43 cents on the dollar. He then blasted these creditors for being upset; going on TV and blaming them for Chrysler’s demise. They should have been upset. According to the rules they should have been paid back their money in full before UAW was given a dime. I guess it is good to have friends in high places. That way you take no responsibility for a problem you had a big part of.
But the thing that gets me the most is the hypocrisy of this administration. They continue to drag corporate executives through the mud while ignoring their union friends who do the same thing. They say there needs to be accountability and transparency, but the rules they are implementing for the unions do the exact opposite. I already mentioned the LM-30 rule, but there are others as well. The labor department has rescinded the expansion of the LM-2 rule as well. These rules were put in place the last year of the Bush administration and require unions to report more information about finances and labor leaders’ compensation on annual reports. These relaxed rules will send us back to the Clinton era of no union accountability. During the Clinton administration OLMS staffing dropped 40% and the number of union audits dropped 75%. Bush returned these rules and money which led to more than 900 convictions and $91.5 million in restitution during his term. Obama now wants to reverse this. Along with lax regulations, he has already cut $4 Million from the OLMS budget. In case you didn’t know, the OLMS is responsible for catching all the union corruption. Quite convenient. Maybe Obama can explain this hypocrisy. I am having a hard time understanding.
Comments on this entry are closed.