Big Labor Civil War Deepens

by JASmius



Just like the original Civil War, the intra-organized labor version has settled into a long, bloody stalemate:

In the failed fight to stop fast track, organized labor spoke—largely—with one voice. The main U.S. union federation, the AFL-CIO, announced a temporary freeze on PAC contributions, and its affiliate unions mostly complied. Unions across the industry spectrum warned Democrats against siding with Obama on trade. Some big unions were quieter than others, but none defected to shield the president. “It was a unifying moment,” says Harold Schaitberger, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters.

The same can’t be said for labor’s presidential endorsement process. “Some want to wait, some want to move,” International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers President Tom Buffenbarger told Bloomberg last month. “Some are just so pissed off that they just don’t want to do anything.”...

[D]ivisions abound. A month ago, after the AFL-CIO’s South Carolina and Vermont chapters passed pro-Sanders resolutions, the AFL-CIO sent a memo reminding its State subsidiaries that (unlike the AFL-CIO’s affiliated unions) they aren’t allowed to make their own presidential endorsements....

Not everyone wanted to wait. The 1.6 million-strong American Federation of Teachers [defied Trumka by endorsing] [Mrs.] Clinton July 11th , raising hackles among some union leaders and raising expectations that more could soon follow. But on July 20th, the federation’s political committee voted unanimously to recommend that the AFL-CIO itself keep waiting before endorsing anybody.

Why did they do this?  Because, if you're recall, the AFL-CIO's national-level endorsement requires a minimum two-thirds vote in favor of one candidate.  Which clearly means that there's no such consensus between the Democrat "establishment" that feels obligated to back Hillary and the Nutroot base that wants anybody else.  And now they're grinding each other down, with whichever side winds up on the losing end bound to embitteredly bolt and openly support the candidate that didn't get the national endorsement.

My money (or what's left of it) is still riding on the anti-Hillary forces.  And if the Trumka-oids do succeed in shoving Hillary down the throats of the rank & file, we might just see the final disintegration of the labor movement in this country.

I'd be stocking up on even more popcorn and frosty beverages if, you know, I had the money.