In the past, Democratic politicians could always count on union campaign contributions. But, when it comes to supporting working families, corporate Democrats have not delivered, or at least not to the extent that they need to in these difficult times. By spending the last three years trying to compromise with the anti-labor GOP, they have moved the party more to the right. As a result, unions are reconsidering how to best spend their money<\/p>\n
AFL-CIO leader Richard Trumka, who vigorously confronted racism among white union members during the last presidential campaign and turned out the vote for then candidate Barack Obama, is considering withholding union campaign funds for 2012. According to Trumka, Democrats are getting too reliant on corporate money and less helpful to working and middle class Americans. He points out that Republicans get 79 percent of campaign contributions from business, but Democrats are not far behind with 72 percent. Unhappy with the pro-business leanings of the Democratic Party, he is hoping to use union funds that would have gone to politicians to build and strengthen worker movements at the grassroots level. A recent article by Joan Walsh at Salon explores Trumka\u2019s growing rift with Democrats:<\/a><\/p>\n [In 2010] Trumka’s AFL-CIO famously bucked the White House, supporting Arkansas Lt. Gov. Bill Halter’s unsuccessful primary challenge to Blue Dog Sen. Blanche Lincoln. [Lincoln lost in the general election.] When Halter lost, anonymous White House officials attacked labor leaders as “absolute idiots” who had been “humiliated” after flushing $10 million “down the toilet.” In an interview last week Trumka seemed unchastened by attacks over the Halter bid, and he pledged the AFL-CIO to a new independence from Democratic Party organizations and candidates. He didn’t spell out exactly what that might mean, citing decisions to be made by the federation’s governing Executive Council. “You’ll see us giving less to party structure, and more to our own structure,” Trumka promised.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Trumka has been unhappy with how the Obama White House discouraged independent progressive campaigns on behalf of healthcare reform and against anti-union Blue Dog Democrats, and recently with how the White House discouraged direct DNC\/OFA support for Wisconsin public sector workers who demonstrated against GOP Governor Walker\u2019s attempts to gut public sector unions. However, Trumka did praise statements Obama made during the union demonstrations in Wisconsin,<\/a> saying they were “very, very helpful.<\/p>\n \u201cFirst, he called what was going on in Wisconsin the attack on working people,\u201d Trumka said on MSNBC. \u201cAnd then he met with the Republican governors and he said: \u2018You’re wrong for villainizing public workers. They’re our neighbors, they\u2019re our friends, they\u2019re our nurses, they\u2019re doctors, they\u2019re teachers. They’re all of our friends \u2013 you shouldn’t do that.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n Trumka, the only labor representative on Obama\u2019s jobs council, added that \u201cthis really isn\u2019t about Obama.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis is about those governors that are making war on their employees and trying to deny them a middle-class lifestyle,\u201d he said. \u201cHopefully, there will be more and more support from politicians, including the president.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n But while Trumka has praised Obama for his pro-union statements, he has also been critical of his lack of substantive action for job creation and relief for working families. According to the Huffington Post:<\/p>\n The labor\u00a0ommunity — the AFL-CIO especially — has been taking steps towards greater independence from the Democratic Party as its disappointments with the Obama administration and congressional Democrats have mounted. The typical response from party insiders has been dismissive assumptions that labor has nowhere else to go.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n But, unions, having been reinvigorated by the grassroots uprisings at Madison and in other states, are no longer willing to be taken for granted.\u00a0When Joan Walsh asked if Wisconsin surprised him, Trumka said:<\/p>\n You know, you knew it was coming. It was more like: When? What’s going to be the final pinpoint that makes it happen? . . . It was truly a spontaneous grassroots rank and file movement, and it’s still growing. Now it’s up to us to convert it from a moment to a movement.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n