Why Are The Unions That Support Clinton Just So Evil
It is certainly not illegitimate for unions to endorse candidates — after all, a certain candidate may do more in office to advance the interests of said union than all the others — but what certainly makes the entire union endorsing a candidate proposition more shady is when a union endorsing and candidates and advocates for her by bringing up issues of absolutely zero relevance to why they endorsed the candidate. For example, the AFSCME — the municipal employees union — endorsed Senator Clinton. But when they sent out mailers in New Hampshire, did they discuss issues of relevance to municipal employees who they supposedly represent? No, they just engaged in Giuliani-style fear mongering.
Likewise, the AFT and Nevada teacher unions that endorsed Clinton aren’t exactly limiting their activities to explaining why Clinton is best for teachers, or even for schools. Instead, they are suing the state Democratic party for scheduling 9 caucuses to be held at Culinary Workers Union supporting casinos so that union members, and workers in general, can vote on Saturday. Of course, Clinton and her supporters were OK with the arrangement in March when they finalized it, but now that Obama has won the Culinary Workers endorsement, they think the caucuses are unfair and are suing the Nevada Democratic Party. So, tell me, what exactly does voter suppression have to do with protecting and advancing the interests of teachers?
I know that people engage in reflexive teacher union bashing too much, but seriously, this is a pretty good data point for the “teachers unions are the source of all that is bad in the world” hypothesis. Here’s Obama’s reaction:
“Ever since I got the support of Local 226, the lawyers decided to get involved. The rules were OK when the other campaigns thought they would win the Culinary endorsement,” Obama told a union rally. “As soon as you decided to support the outsider, the working people instead of the big shots, all the sudden they decided they wanted to change the rules.”
Amen, my Imaginary Hip Black Friend, amen.
