Despite conflicts, labor unions back Obama

[Omaha Steve]

http://bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2012/10/06/labor-unions-shun-airwaves-return-basics-help-obama-campaign/0MV7HQPxyd5PqZGM9CBcfM/story.html

By Brian C. Mooney



Larry Downings/Reuters/File

President Obama, shown with AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka in 2010, has clashed with labor unions over several issues, including foreign trade agreements. But unions are supporting his reelection bid.


Organized labor, its historic alliance with the Democratic Party strained in recent years, has returned to basics in this political season.

After feuding openly with President Obama, unions are steadfastly supporting him, albeit in many cases with smaller budgets than in past campaigns and a model that emphasizes on-the-ground organization and support for legislative allies at the congressional and, in some cases, even state level. That will mean fewer costly television ads bankrolled by union members’ dues before the Nov. 6 election.

“We’re not trying to compete with the Karl Roves of the world and raise money for TV ads; it’s not feasible, and it’s not our philosophy,” said Mike Podhorzer, political director of the AFL-CIO, the nation’s largest labor federation with more than 12 million active and retired members. “What we do is encourage members to get involved in the ground game, expanding our walks, calls, social networking, and using the Internet.”

Last week, the AFL-CIO announced it had registered 450,000 new voters over 18 months in union households, including 68,000 in Ohio, one of the more unionized states and a critical electoral-vote battleground in the presidential campaign. The AFL-CIO’s super PAC, Workers’ Voice, has instituted “RePurpose,” a program which allows volunteers to accumulate points for their activities and then decide how the super PAC will allocate future resources such as mail or phone calls on behalf of candidates of the volunteers’ choice.

FULL story at link.

[bluestateguy]

1. NEA was one of the first unions to back him this cycle

in spite of all the handwringing we heard here.

[hay rick]

2. Labor's dilemma.

From the article:

Labor’s arm’s-length alliance with Obama is the result of clashes over foreign trade agreements, his negotiations with Republicans on budget cuts and deficit reduction, and the selection of North Carolina, a so-called right-to-work state with the lowest union membership rate in the country, as the site of the Democratic convention.

This is a "lesser evil" contest for labor.