National Review Online: Labor Unions Have A Vise Grip On The Democrats


Sept. 3, 2007

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Today’s labor leaders simply fight to preserve their power, often at the expense of both the workers they represent and the country as a whole.


(National Review Online) This column was written by The Editors Of National Review Online.

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At the AFL-CIO forum in Chicago this summer, Barack Obama declared that "special interests have been shaping our trade policy. That’s something that I’ll end." The other Democratic presidential candidates have also denounced "special interests" at various points in their campaigns. But Obama and his rivals have had nothing to say about the special interest that sat right in front of them at the forum - the one that really is shaping our trade policy. That would be the labor unions.

According to the National Institute for Labor Relations Research, unions contributed $925 million to political campaigns and causes during the last presidential-election cycle. Nearly all of that money went to Democrats. On top of those nine digits, unions routinely run massive get-out-the-vote drives to help Democrats, and their officers often volunteer full time for Democratic campaigns while collecting salaries from their union jobs. In recent election cycles, unions have spent 87 to 90 percent of their money from PACs and “527â€