Police unions, organized labor have rarely seen eye to eye

[ellenrr]

Police unions and the broader labor movement are marching in opposite directions. While many of America's biggest labor organizations support the recent protests against policing practices, unions representing law enforcement officers have largely closed ranks, lashing out against voices calling for reform.

That the major law enforcement unions have openly bucked the prevailing rhetoric of the rest of the labor movement regarding the deaths two unarmed black men killed by police: Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and Eric Garner in Staten Island, New York reflects the historic tension between those who called strikes and those who enforced laws breaking them.

After Richard Trumka, president of the labor coalition AFL-CIO, co-signed an open letter to President Barack Obama regarding the "long list of black men and boys who have died under eerily similar circumstances" in August, he caught flak from police officers within the very coalition he oversees.

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/12/22/police-unions-havealwaysbeenalabormovementapart.html

[busterbrown]

1. Let the Cops side with right wing doctrine..

They’ve been doing so for the last 30 yrs.. One day they will wake up and find that their jobs have been sold to private contractors(privatized) and when the new owners show up they will see most of their benefits ,pensions and other perks provided by govt. will be gone.. Incidentally, as Corporate owners begin the purge of cops who suck up too much revenue, watch the new starting pay for cops drop to around $10-$12 an hr..

I blame this all on Union Leaders, who’s job it is to educate their rank and file as to what is best in their interest.
Whats that idiot’s name who heads the union in N.Y./ Patrick Lynch? He really is an asshole!!

[SamKnause]

2. They are never on the side of labor.

That is why the politicians protect them and exclude them from devastating policies that effect the rest of us.

It will be quite a show when the politicians go after their unions, wages, and pensions.

[Sherman A1]

4. Agreed

they have always been the enforcement arm of the 1% throughout history.

[Starry Messenger]

3. Their pensions are starting to be at risk in some cities

That will threaten their status as the favored child of the 1%.

It's long past due as a conversation, but several of their number will probably be swayed by economic arguments rather than by moral appeal.