Unions pose difficult political test for Obama

[Omaha Steve]

http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2008/12/21/unions-pose-difficult-political-test-for-obama/


Cuts ahead: Big Three auto workers, like these Chrysler employees, face big contract concessions. (Rebecca Cook/Reuters)

How firmly will he stand with his labor allies during the painful restructuring of the auto industry?
By Mark Trumbull | Staff writer / December 21, 2008 edition

The worst job market in a generation sets up a difficult test for Barack Obama: how closely to align himself with organized labor at a time when reviving economic growth is the top national priority.

It’s a question that the incoming president will have to address directly in his first few weeks in office, as debate continues over the details of a bailout for the automotive industry.

A new plan for emergency loans of up to $17.4 billion for the industry, announced by President Bush Friday, is contingent on concessions by various stakeholders, including unionized auto workers. These workers supported Mr. Obama in the presidential election, and they hope he will stand with them as a March 31 deadline for finalizing those concessions approaches.

But the issue goes beyond the auto industry and beyond the unionized workforce. One of Obama’s key tenets is that America is in economic trouble because ordinary workers have fallen behind and been neglected in public policy, relative to business executives and investors.

The test for Obama is how to adjust that balance while also encouraging those very businesses and investors to create or preserve much-needed jobs. The auto industry will be just the first test of how this will go.

“This may turn out to be a sort of Nixon goes to China moment, where Obama has to stand up to organized labor and tell them they can’t get what they want,” says Donald Grimes, an economist at the University of Michigan who follows the auto industry.

FULL story at link.

[madrchsod]

1. concessions?

where are the concessions from the wall street executives ? another "economist" that hates american union labor...