By WFI Staff
It was supposed to be the start of something fresh and new for Big Labor. But, no one could have scripted a worse week. On Monday, union chiefs were converging on the AFL-CIO convention in Los Angeles, eager to push the labor bosses’ agenda. By Friday, the message was in pieces, shattered from signs of an existential crisis and calls to condemn the labor movement’s weakest link: ObamaCare.
As a result, this week could be seen as a critical turning point for Big Labor and where it heads politically. While union bosses attempted to put a bright spin on things, members were revolting in private and in the open, lambasting Big Labor’s cozy and very partisan relationship with progressives. Some were even going so far as to suggest a radical change for Big Labor: to focus more on its members instead of staging “social movements” for the political left.
It was a very sudden and marked departure from previous union boss gatherings and it was clear from the confusion that it completely caught Big Labor off guard. Nor was it the best week for Big Labor’s friend in the White House, Barack Obama. With the president already facing stiff opposition to ObamaCare implementation in Congress and in public opinion polls,the last thing he wanted was a Big Labor mutiny after he pulled off so many bailouts for them. But the pressure from members was intense. Union chiefs were suddenly put between a rock and a hard place, forced to condemn ObamaCare upon learning rank-and-file members haven’t been too pleased with a health care reform plan that’s making them lose more wages and jobs than they could have ever imagined.
Reports the Washington Times:
Even early Obamacare backers are starting to wonder whether they made a colossal blunder. It wasn’t so long ago that Labor aided President Obama in ramming his health care scheme through Congress, fully expecting to win exemptions for unions as a reward for their service. Today, union leaders are upset that their multiemployer health care plans aren’t eligible for federal tax subsidies.
Union bosses left L.A. singing the blues. It’s not the best look for Big Labor or pro-Obama cheerleaders, like AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. Trumka, it was reported earlier in the week, is now making a six-figure salary that has increased by 14 percent since 2010.
That doesn’t offer a lot of comfort to struggling members faced with shrinking paychecks because of increased union dues and Obama’s spectacular health care plan fail. Between rejection of ObamaCare from its biggest supporters, inflated union boss salaries and a political paradigm shift threatening to crack the union boss egg wide open, it was not the best week for Big Labor.
This entry was posted in Big Labor Bailout, Big Labor Bosses, Politics, Unions and tagged AFL-CIO, afl-cio convention, Big Labor, big labor bosses, obama white house, obamacare, President Obama, Richard Trumka, Union Bosses, union chiefs. Bookmark the permalink.