Huffington Post: Boosted by Pro-Union Poll, Labor Targets Blue Dog Congressman, AIG, Banks

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/art-levine/backed-by-pro-union-poll_b_176140.html

Art Levine

Posted March 18, 2009

The union movement has been buoyed by a new independent Gallup Poll yesterday showing that a majority of Americans favor the Employee Free Choice Act that would make forming unions eager.

(So far in the bruising battle between unions and corporations, the polling has been subsidized by organizations with a stake in the legislation, but the polling commissioned by the AFL-CIO at least had the advantage of truthfully presenting the key elements of the bill.)

But the mounting outrage over AIG's bailout and bonuses adds an even stronger fuel -- populist anger -- to the union movement's efforts to link outrage over corporate abuses to Big Business's unionbusting and opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act. As Elana Schor of Talking Points Memo DC pointed out earlier this week:

The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the Change to Win labor federation are wasting no time in seizing the political moment as anger flares over AIG's commitment to its own executives' bonus payments.

The unions, along with several other partners, are launching takebacktheeconomy.org and planning protests on Thursday at the regional offices of bailed-out banks in more than 100 cities. The goal of the day: pressuring Wall Street into substantively changing its bonus-happy culture.

But there is a bigger goal for the day, one that goes beyond expressing anger at corporate abuse of power. The labor movement sees an opportunity to link the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), the union organizing bill that is its No. 1 priority this year, to the growing tide of post-bailout populism.

Two of the banks to be closely targeted on Thursday are Citigroup and Bank of America, both of which have lobbied hard against EFCA while taking taxpayer money.

SEIU and Change to Win sent out letters, headlined "Had Enough?," to supporters and allies urging them to attend the rallies, and drawing the connection between the greed that wrecked the economy -- and, by implication, blocks workers from having a level playing field to organize:

FULL story and video at link.