Labor unions put heat on Democrats – Seek passing of ‘ card check’ and other political payoffs

April 15, 2010 05:54


Labor officials told the Wall Street Journal last month they planned to exceed the record $53 million spent in the 2008 election season in the 2010 campaigns.

By Joseph Weber at Washington Times

While conservatives and “tea party” activists have made headlines pressuring Republican candidates from the right this election season, a number of moderate Democrats are under attack in primary battles and even third-party challenges from their labor allies on the left.

The AFL-CIO and other labor groups have been a mainstay of the Democratic coalition, but have not always seen eye to eye with the Obama administration or with a number of centrist Democrats – differences highlighted in the lengthy battle over health care, in debates over education reform, and in stalled efforts to change key labor laws.

In Arkansas, the AFL-CIO is openly working to defeat incumbent Sen. Blanche Lincoln, an opponent of the health bill’s public option plan, in the May 18 Democratic primary. Hawaii labor unions have broken with the national Democratic Party over which candidate to back in a special House election, giving Republicans an opening to win the seat. And in North Carolina, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is helping to form a third party designed in part to challenge state Democratic lawmakers who voted against the health care law.

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