Unions Performed A Huge Role on Tuesday, but also One Major Loss for Labor in Michigan:
Labor's Role on Tuesday....
"....A.F.L.-C.I.O. officials said that during the last four days of the campaign, union members and their community partners contacted 800,000 voters in Ohio alone, as part of what they said were 10.7 million door knocks and phone calls made nationwide by the federation’s 56 unions. Moreover, the Service Employees International Union said that its members alone knocked on 5 million doors, including 3.7 million in battleground states.
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"....Sixty percent of union members in Ohio voted for Mr. Obama, higher than the 50 percent that Mr. Obama received over all from Ohio voters, according to exit polls that had not been completed. Union households accounted for 22 percent of Ohio’s voters. In Wisconsin, union members made up 21 percent of the electorate, and they voted for Mr. Obama over Mr. Romney, 66 percent to 33 percent.
Fifty-eight percent of union members nationwide backed Mr. Obama and 40 percent supported Mr. Romney, according to the exit polls.
Michael Podhorzer, the labor federation’s political director, said organized labor’s newfound ability – made possible by the Citizens United decision — to knock on the doors of not just union members, but also those of nonunion workers, went far to explain why a significantly higher percentage of white working-class voters in the battleground states where labor was most active voted for Mr. Obama than white working-class voters in nonbattleground states....."
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"....organized labor suffered a major loss in Michigan on Tuesday. There the United Auto Workers and several public employees unions had vigorously backed a ballot initiative that would have enshrined collective bargaining in the state constitution. Such a move would have prohibited the state’s Republican-dominated legislature from enacting a “right to work” law or passing legislation that, like the law in Wisconsin, curbed the ability of government workers to bargain collectively. Business leaders warned that this pro-labor measure would injure the state’s business climate and push up costs for cities and school districts.
Labor and business interests each spent more than $20 million in the fight, and the proposal was defeated 58 percent to 42 percent.
Several union leaders said that if they had won that battle in Michigan, they would have pushed for similar labor-friendly initiatives in other states....."
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http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/07/labor-unions-claim-credit-for-obamas-victory/
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