LA Times: Why are Democrats not delivering on issues important to labor?

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-mikulan-labor-20110207,0,5224608.story

Op-Ed
Labor's love lost
Unions helped Democratic candidates win in 2008 and last November, especially in California. So why are Democrats not delivering on issues important to labor?

By Steven Mikulan

Having delivered a clean sweep of state offices to California's Democratic Party in the November election, organized labor might want to brace itself for some punishing payback — from the very Democrats it helped into office. As Republicans press a ferocious campaign against public employee unions, we're already seeing some in the Party of FDR adopting an arm's-length camera pose with labor.

At September's Labor Day Breakfast, held at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, keynote speaker and gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown thundered for 15 minutes about jobs and technology — without once uttering the word "union" or tipping his hat to organized labor.

On the federal level, President Obama has frozen the salaries of heavily unionized government workers for two years, a move that was applauded by the Wall Street Journal but has only symbolic economic value — except for the 2 million employees left in the cold. Meanwhile, Obama backed down on trying to block an extension of the Bush tax cuts — a kind of DREAM Act for millionaires. And you could almost hear AFL-CIO chief Richard Trumka grind his teeth as he responded, on the group's website, to Obama's State of the Union address by begging the president to "stick to his campaign promises of reforming trade deals" and to not cut government spending.

California union leaders won't admit there is any daylight between the Democrats and labor — how can they, after spending $30 million, plus all that get-out-the-vote grunt work, on Jerry Brown alone? Instead, when asked what they expect from Brown, they simply say they want the governor to focus on jobs, on "putting California back to work."

Public sector employees now account for the majority of all organized American workers and, with their job security and guaranteed pensions, have become Republican piñatas — especially in California, which is staring at a $25-billion deficit. As governor, Brown will have to negotiate contracts with six state employee unions that refused to cut deals with his Republican predecessor. And he isn't sounding particularly generous.

FULL story at link.

[FiveGoodMen]

1. 'Bout time this got a wider discussion!

[xchrom]

2. +1

[ProgressiveProfessor]

3. Becuase they don't need to

The unions will not support the Republicans, so where else do they have to go?

When Brown gets done with CA, either our taxes will damn near double or there will be many less school, state and local civil servants, the vast majority of whom are union members.