The #SchumerShutdown fight whimpered out
when Democrats realize they had no chance of winning public support for their
open-borders bigotry. Democrats have won sizeable influence in states where
they have rushed in with mass migration (Virginia) and illegal immigration
(California, Colorado). But this massive setback is hurting their future
election chances. This loss to shape the country’s demographics has covered up
another fight that Democrats are losing in great number. A leaked internal memo
showed that Democrats depend on a fresh supply of third-world immigrants, legal
and illegal, in order to maintain any kind of voter hegemony.
There’s another demographic which
Democrats are losing: labor unions. Stalwart allies for the progressive liberal
cause, labor unions buoyed Democrats’ political careers. Minority leader Chuck
Schumer owes his US Senate Seat to the labor unions who helped him crush
incumbent Republican Al D’Amato in 1998, for example.
Why are Democrats losing labor union
support now?
The first reason rests on the
pro-American, pro-economic growth agenda of the President. Union members
reported their disdain with Hillary Clinton’s opposition to mining and
manufacturing while pursuing progressive social goals, like flooding the labor
market with cheap labor and prioritizing the fate of trees ahead of teamsters.
Barack Obama had not curried favor with organized labor, enough that union
presidents hosted their own convention instead of attending the 2012 Democratic
National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. Public safety unions have
tended to support Republican candidates, since they stress law and order. The
Border Patrol union as well as police unions across the country stood behind
Trump, who supported then.
Democrats are also losing labor support,
however, because Big Labor as a whole is in decline, especially in their
political influence. Organized labor is facing greater roadblocks to their
political process because labor unions face declining membership or declining
political influence. In Southern states, labor union membership has gained
somewhat, but mostly because of the manufacturing explosion. This trend should
prove, however, that right-to-work legislation does not mean the utter demise
of labor unions in any state.
Collective bargaining reforms have chipped
away at their political power so assiduously, that their formidable pre-eminence
in statewide elections has fallen dramatically. The progressive “journal” The
Nation released an article detailing how Republican efforts,
with considerable investment from conservative pro-liberty groups have taken
down the aggressive abuse of the labor movement, which donates 90% of its union
funding to Democratic candidates.
For the last 2 years, I've pointed out how
the right-to-work movement was a big part of the reason why president Trump did
so well in the Rust Belt states. The Nation article points out
that Democratic voter turnout declined by an average of 3.5% following
right-to-work legislation’s passage. Despite the most vocal efforts, Democrats
are ignoring this downward trend at their peril.
Mass migration has become a non-started
for keeping Democratic numbers propped up. As labor unions walk away from
Democratic candidates, because they actually want a thriving economy which benefits
American workers and not just international corporate executives, Democrats
have moved toward the bi-coastal elites and their technocratic minions. Silicon
Valley and Hollywood are the major cash cows for Democratic candidates. Hillary
Clinton learned, however, that money cannot by an election.
The biggest reason why Scott Walker was my
first choice for president was that he withstood the Big Labor Onslaught,
winning three Statewide elections in four years. The collective bargaining
reforms were crucial to diminishing the Progressive Movement in Wisconsin, the
home of progressive politics. Even though Walker was not successful in the
presidential primaries, his reforms both of collective bargaining and the right
to work law he passed in 2015, helped ensure that a Republican would win the
dairy State for the first time in over 30 years.
Those same reforms also moved Michigan
into the GOP column. Granted, many analysts have argued that Hillary Clinton
didn't get the turnout she wanted in those States, and the voter percentage
decreased in Michigan and Wisconsin. One factor many of these analysts have
left out is that the Big labor movement wasn't there to get them out to vote.
Right-to-work legislation has passed in 28
states. The provision is currently on-hold in Missouri since labor unions
mobilized to place a statewide initiative repealing the law on the ballot.
Missouri Governor Eric Greitens, who campaigned to victory on right-to-work, is
facing his own PR nightmare following exposure of an extramarital affair two
years ago, coupled with allegations of revenge porn blackmail. Will the
negative veneer and the supposed Blue Wave backlash to Trump and Congressional
Republicans hurt the labor reform in the Show Me State?
I doubt it. Labor unions cannot rely on the multimillions from
labor unions in Rust Belt states. Workers are enjoying the benefits of labor
reforms freeing up workers to join or not to join. Not only that, but the
pro-worker policies have forced unions to serve their members, rather than serving
themselves in the pursuit of raw yet elitist political power.
Election 2016 was not only a victory for Trump, but other
statehouses gained GOP trifectas for the first time in decades. Within
two months, Iowa’s GOP-controlled state legislature enacted sweeping collective
bargaining reforms, similar to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s Act 10
reforms. Iowa is already a right-to-work state, but the taxpayer burden of
public sector unions requires more stringent legislative remedies.
Collective bargaining reforms have rolled out in other states,
too, without the official right-to-work policy. In Maine, retiring governor
Paul LePage worked out a new contract where the largest state employee union
agreed to a pay rise, and in exchange the contract includes a comprehensive
right-to-work provision. This measure will ensure that the Pine Tree State
maintains its more purple brand of politics going forward.
This year, local and county governments have taken the lead on
right-to-work reforms, despite vocal, menacing labor opposition. Sussex County,
Delaware flirted with the reform, but organizational and legal pressure forced
the county commissioners to back away from them proposal. This setback
didn’t discourage
the town of Seaford from going forward with their own ordinance.
Despite mixed reactions to the policy change, at least one city will have a
competitive investment advantage. Sandoval
County, New Mexico also enacted a right-to-work provision. Past legal
challenges to local right-to-work ordinances have met mixed outcomes, but have
been upheld more than not. The economic and political consequences will come
forth in the next year or two. Other
blue states are entering the RTW column, too.
Ohio Governor John Kasich topped Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s
reforms, but organized labor repealed those efforts by initiative in 2011.
Republican supermajorities in Columbus have rewed their push for
right-to-work, but
the voters may decide the issue in 2020.
Big Labor is meeting further challenges at the federal level, too.
President Trump has successfully appointed a pro-worker RTW majority to the
National Labor Relations Board. Renewed interest in a national right-to-work
law has encouraged Congressmen to submit legislation, and libertarian-leaning
Republican Rand Paul has offered the same. Much of these piecemeal reforms and
successes may become moot following
a ruling in Janus v. AFSCME. The court could strike down the
right of compelled agency fees from public workers, which would enact de facto
right-to-work as a national policy.
Labor unions which cannot compel membership as a condition of
employment will lose an easy revenue stream which has benefitted Democratic
politicians for decades. This maneuver could turn purple states red and make
blue states more competitive for Republicans who have struggled to compete
because of Big Labor’s fundraising prowess. Despite
two major Democratic opportunities for long-term pro-labor reforms, unions have
seen Democrats taking them for granted. Now they may not have unions at
all.
Democrats are losing the demographic battle over immigration. The
demise of Big Labor could ensure, in the words of Grover Norquist that “the
modern Democratic Party will cease to be a competitive power in American
politics.”
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