Let’s Prevent a Repeat of 1994 Election
When Republicans Recaptured Congress

With only nine months left before the mid-term elections, Republicans are clearly enjoying their momentum after their candidate, Scott Brown, won the Massachusetts Senate seat held by the late Senator Ted Kennedy for 47 years. The GOP victories for governor in Virginia and New Jersey were also regarded as harbingers of a resurgent, unified political party that, only a few months ago, looked confused and leaderless.

In contrast, the Democrats appear confused and divided on health-care reform and how to strike a balance between cutting the national debt and increasing the level of spending to create urgently-needed jobs.

There was also the question of what the Democratic majority in both houses plans to do about the Employee Free Choice Act. Although unions need EFCA more urgently than ever as they keep on losing members, the Democrats no longer show an interest in fighting for its passage by Congress. It has not escaped the notice of union members that President Obama did not even mention it in his “State of the Union” address to the nation.

After four years of single-minded and extensive expenditures in time, resources and money, shouldn’t we end EFCA’s state of limbo? If there’s no chance of getting this vital legislation passed in 2010, shouldn’t we try some other strategy for organizing?

Then there is the issue of job creation. President Trumka says that the Obama administration is “moving in the right direction.” but “we need to create over 10 million new jobs just to get back to where we were when the recession began.”

But under Obama’s most optimistic figures, a major boost in spending for job creation could produce, at most, 3.5 million jobs. What do we do about the 6.5 million who, under the best of circumstances, would be left out in the cold?

Unions Should Begin Preparing for the 2010 Elections

It’s time to start discussions within the labor movement, not only about the issues, but how the elections will be conducted. Unions and their members will have to examine their relationship to the Democratic Party. One thing should be clear: we are not going to be hostages of the Democrats; they don’t own us. Their candidates will have to prove they deserve our support.

Polls in recent months have revealed public anger at the behavior in Congress of both major political parties. As a result, there appears to be a remarkable increase in the number of potential voters who are registering as independents. Unions should find ways to reach out to those independents, who could determine the outcome of the election.

It’s not too early for the AFL-CIO to begin organizing its 2010 campaign in the hope of matching the excellent job it did in electing Barack Obama as President of the United States. Time should be allotted for discussion of the issues by the rank-and-file to create a unified position in the conduct of the campaign.

The AFL-CIO’s General Board, on which each of the 57 international unions is represented, is the Federation’s highest political decision-making body. It would be wise if it listened to the views of a substantial number of union members before making its decisions.

In past mid-term elections, the AFL-CIO sometimes put up its own candidates for state and city offices, and in some cases, the labor candidates won. In the current political situation, this may be an opportune time to field our own candidates, so, at the very least, we can promote our own issues as we see them, without having to compromise our views to please Democratic candidates.

Surely, we can find union men and women in our midst who can serve in a public office, as well as a lawyer, banker or businessman.—Harry Kelber

LaborTalk (37) will be posted here on Tuesday, February 9, 2010 and on our two web sites: www.laboreducator.org and www.laborsvoiceforchange.org