Though Republicans still like to pretend that unions are behind every evil in America, the truth is that unions are a shadow of what they were before Reagan turned robber baron-style union busting into a presidential pastime. A single corporation, or a single billionaire CEO, can easily outspend an entire union representing millions of workers. That’s because most union funds don’t go to political campaigns. They go to taking care of workers, securing pensions, negotiating with employers on salaries and working conditions… all that boring stuff that is the reason unions exist, and the real reason Republicans wish they didn’t.
To make things happen on a political stage that’s increasingly costly unions are forming… unions.
The leaders of two of the nation’s biggest, most powerful labor unions — the Service Employees International Union and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees — are completing a plan that calls for unusually close cooperation in political campaigning, organizing and bargaining in states and cities across the United States.
What sort of insidious plots are these two giants (representing a total of 3.6 million workers) up to?
The unions plan “unity partnerships” to expand on such initiatives as a joint organizing drive of home-care workers, like a recent one in Pennsylvania, and joint lobbying efforts to persuade state lawmakers to increase funding for public schools and hospitals.
Decent pay for home healthcare workers, better schools, and better hospitals. It’s no wonder the right hates these guys.
The big advantage that unions have isn’t money. It’s people. Drives like the one to help get decent pay and conditions for home-care workers is exactly the kind of action where unions can be more effective than any ad campaign. And why they’ve been so critical in the fight to raise the minimum wage.