Labor and business face off at Democratic convention

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersEdge/idUSN2740750620080827

Wed Aug 27, 2008 5:56pm EDT

By Kevin Drawbaugh

DENVER (Reuters) - Unions and big business resumed hostilities this week at the Democratic convention over legislation to make organizing workers easier, sharpening the divide between U.S. labor and management.

Organized labor is putting the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which would change the rules on the formation of unions, at the center of its election-year campaign effort, while corporate lobbyists are vowing to block it.

The struggle over the bill, expected to be introduced in Congress early next year, underscores the close alliance of labor with Democrats, and business with Republicans.

"Workers understand what's happened to them over the past eight years ... They understand that we have to elect Democrats," John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO labor federation, said in an interview after speaking at the convention.

Unions are pouring volunteers and big money into backing Barack Obama, attacking John McCain and supporting Democrats in selected U.S. Senate races where Republicans look vulnerable.

FULL 2 page story at link.