The nation’s labor unions added 428,000 recruits to their ranks last year and used that muscle to help get their candidates elected to the White House and Congress, but the first Labor Day of Barack Obama’s presidency arrives with organized labor’s two greatest goals unmet.
Neither the Employee Free Choice Act nor a health care reform bill seeking near-universal insurance coverage has passed Congress. Moreover, major union-backed provisions in those bills face increasingly precarious prospects on Capitol Hill.
“Organized labor put forth an incredible effort in the 2008 election,” said Peter Francia, a specialist on labor and politics at East Carolina University.
The AFL-CIO reports that it made 70 million phone calls, mailed 57 million election alerts, distributed 27 million fliers in the workplace and knocked on 10 million doors on behalf of Mr. Obama and his fellow Democrats.
In terms of total expenditures, labor unions operated 11 of the 20 biggest nonparty political action committees during the 2007-08 election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a campaign-finance watchdog group. Those 11 labor PACs alone spent $225 million, including $71 million by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and $33 million by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. The overwhelming majority of that spending benefited Mr. Obama and other Democrats.
Labor unions also accounted for 18 of the top 20 PACs ranked according to the total amount of contributions given to Democratic candidates.
“These efforts paid huge dividends at the voting booth,” said Mr. Francia, author of the 2006 book, “The Future of Organized Labor in American Politics” (Columbia University Press).
National exit polls showed that union members, who make up 12 percent of the electorate, favored Mr. Obama by a 60 percent to 37 percent margin.
An election-night survey by Democratic pollster Peter Hart revealed that Mr. Obama defeated his Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, by 18 points among white men who belonged to a union, even though Mr. McCain prevailed among all white men by 16 points. Mr. Obama beat Mr. McCain by 25 points among military veterans who were union members, though veterans in general supported Mr. McCain by a nine-point margin. Gun-owning union members supported Mr. Obama by a 12-point margin, while gun owners in general supported Mr. McCain by 25 points.
Mr. Francia’s research revealed that “unions helped Obama significantly among an especially important bloc of voters - the white working class,” defined as those without a four-year college degree. Mr. Obama won 60 percent of the vote from the white working class in union households, but he won only 43 percent of the vote from the white working class in nonunion households, Mr. Francia said.
“Workers gave the president a bold challenge last November: It’s time for real change,” said Andy Stern, president of SEIU, which has 2.1 million members in North America. “From ensuring women are treated fairly on the job to accountability for CEOs, President Obama has set our country on a path to realize that change and strengthen our middle class.”
From the outset, labor made it clear that the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) was its No. 1 priority, which it wanted Congress to pass within the session’s first 100 days. But EFCA faces a filibuster hurdle in the Senate, which requires 60 votes to overcome. And several moderate Democrats, including Sens. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, oppose the bill in its current form. The recent death of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat, and the health problems of Sen. Robert C. Byrd, West Virginia Democrat, raise the filibuster hurdle even higher.
EFCA’s most contentious provision is the “card check” rule, which would require employers to recognize a union after a majority of workers sign cards saying they want to unionize. Under current rules, employers can insist on a secret-ballot election.
Even if card check is dropped, which is now considered likely, there are other EFCA provisions that would guarantee forceful opposition from business groups and Republicans. These include binding arbitration over wages, benefits and other contract terms if companies and newly formed unions cannot reach agreement within 120 days; speeding up union-certification elections; and more severe penalties for employers who violate organizing rights.
EFCA has now been put on the back burner as Congress considers health care reform, labor’s second-biggest priority.
But this issue faces huge obstacles, too. Provisions for a government-provided “public option” have polarized the nation in the debate over health insurance reforms.
“Leaders in organized labor have made it very clear that they favor a public option and view it as essential in reforming the health care system,” Mr. Francia said.
Sen. Kent Conrad, North Dakota Democrat, has been saying for months that the Senate does not have the votes to pass a public option - short of imposing a parliamentary procedure to circumvent the need for 60 votes to overcome a Republican filibuster.
When Mr. Obama and moderate Blue Dog Democrats appeared to wobble over the public option, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka delivered a stern rebuke.
“We need to send them a special message: You may have forgotten what the labor movement did to get you elected, but by God, we never will,” Mr. Trumka told the Sheet Metal Workers International Association at its convention last month. “And if you stab us in the back on health care this year, don’t ask us for our support next year.”
AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney put it this way: “The only way to force real competition on insurance companies is a strong public option. We will continue to relay the message forcefully to the Senate and the White House.”
But that may not be enough, given the dwindling support that the public has shown for Mr. Obama’s health care agenda in recent polls and town-hall meetings.
Mr. Stern, president of the largest health care union with more than 1.1 million members, is confident Mr. Obama will overcome the health care challenges confronting him.
“Now, the president must fight to make sure obstructionists bent on maintaining the status quo don’t get in the way of the change that is needed to provide working families with stability and security,” Mr. Stern said. “I do not doubt the president will meet this challenge and every American will be guaranteed quality, affordable health care this year.”
Mr. Obama and labor clearly embrace the same goals on health care reform and EFCA, only to be stymied in the Senate. But the same cannot be said for his $4.35 billion “Race to the Top” initiative. The Department of Education describes Race to the Top, a competitive grant program, as “the centerpiece of the Obama administration’s education-reform efforts.” But the National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers union, wants nothing to do with it.
A month after the president introduced the initiative, the NEA found “this top-down approach disturbing.” In a blistering critique, the union declared: “Despite growing evidence to the contrary, it appears that the administration has decided that charter schools are the only answer to what ails America’s public schools - urban, suburban, exurban and rural - and all must comply with this silver bullet.”
Regardless of how EFCA, health care reform and education reform play out in the coming months, there can be no doubt that organized labor has already achieved major victories early in the Obama administration.
On Inauguration Day, Mr. Obama promoted National Labor Relations Board member Wilma Liebman, a former lawyer for the Teamsters, to chairman of the board.
For labor secretary, he appointed California Rep. Hilda L. Solis, the daughter of two union members who was one of the House’s most liberal representatives. Ms. Solis quickly postponed a George W. Bush administration rule that would have required unions to increase disclosure about their finances. Under Ms. Solis, the Labor Department is hiring nearly 700 investigators to enforce labor regulations.
The first bill Mr. Obama signed was the union-backed Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which makes it easier for workers to sue employers for wage discrimination.
He quickly issued four labor-related executive orders overturning rules issued by Mr. Bush. One executive order issued by Mr. Obama required federal contractors to post notices advising workers of their rights, including the right to unionize. Another order instructed government contractors to favorably consider “project labor agreements,” which require contractors either to hire union labor or adhere to union rules with regard to their own nonunionized workers.
Critics said the United Auto Workers received preferential treatment over other creditors when Chrysler and General Motors emerged from bankruptcy after government bailouts. The UAW retiree health trust now owns 17.5 percent of GM and 55 percent of Chrysler, while bondholders and other creditors were forced to take bigger losses on their investments.
Unions were also very pleased with the $33 billion expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program early this year and the $787 billion economic-stimulus package, which Mr. Obama signed in February.
The stimulus package increased and extended unemployment benefits and provided nearly $600 million to train workers who lost their jobs because of foreign trade. It also earmarked $7.2 billion to expand broadband service, a boon for the Communications Workers of America. And the steelworkers and other labor groups welcomed the stimulus act’s “Buy American” provision. Teachers were pleased with the nearly $40 billion that the stimulus bill allocated for education.
Asked where the machinists union stood in terms of Mr. Obama’s performance so far, communications director Rick Sloan replied, “Squarely behind him.”
He cited the stimulus bill, the executive orders, the health care efforts and the president’s emphasis on the role of community colleges to increase workers’ skills. The machinists also welcomed “the complete change in attitude toward organized labor,” Mr. Sloan said.
To be sure, labor has won numerous victories early in the new administration. But the big prizes still elude unions and the Democrats whom labor heartily supports.
“Defeats on health care reform and EFCA would be major setbacks,” Mr. Francia said. “However, if bills can ultimately emerge on those issues, then organized labor will have had quite a remarkable year. In short, unions head into the Labor Day holiday with several important accomplishments, but plenty of unfinished business.”
For their part, the machinists, who would welcome a second stimulus package aimed at manufacturing, realize that labor’s agenda cannot be achieved all at once.
“This is a process,” Mr. Sloan explained. “We understand. We’ve been around 121 years,” he said.
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