Auto bailout's death seen as a Republican blow at unions (LA Times)

[Eugene]

Source: Los Angeles Times

Auto bailout's death seen as a Republican blow at unions
For some Senate Republicans, a vote against the
bailout was a vote against the United Auto Workers,
and against organized labor in general.

By Jim Puzzanghera
December 13, 2008

Reporting from Washington -- The congressional push
to help U.S. automakers was generally cast in terms of
protecting the reeling national economy from another
body blow -- the collapse of one or more of Detroit's
Big Three.

But in killing the stopgap rescue plan worked out by
President Bush and congressional Democrats, conservative
Republicans -- many from right-to-work states across
the South -- struck at an old enemy: organized labor.

"If the (United Auto Workers), which is perceived as
one of the strongest unions in the country, can be put
under control, that may send a message across the
whole country," said Michigan State University
professor Richard Block, a labor relations expert.

-snip-

Handing a defeat to labor and its Democratic allies
in Congress was also seen as a preemptive strike in
what is expected to be a major battle for the new
Congress in January: the unions' bid for a so-called
card check law that would make it easier for them to
organize workers, potentially reversing decades of
declining power. The measure is strongly opposed by
business groups.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/classified/automotive/news/la-fi-gopunions13-2008dec13,0,4830309.story