The only political entity that might have had a worse week than President Obama last week was the public sector union.
For the third time in 14 months a full-throated attempt from labor to exact retribution on Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) for curtailing collective bargaining rights for public sector unions fell flat.
And its got some writing the obituary of the public sector union arguing that it will soon join the private sector union in the realm of the politically irrelevant.
Which makes sense in some ways and doesnt in others.
As Obama noted in a rather inartful way on Friday the economic recession has hit government employees harder than the private sector. Its natural during time of austerity for politicians to target public employees for cuts and create conflict; the unhelpful side effect if youre labor is that this occurs at a time when those same cutbacks are also creating less union members overall.
So its not surprising to see the unions at a weak point right now.
But its also pretty clear that the public sector unions political capital is heading in one direction down.
Over the last several decades unions have increasingly fallen out of favor with the American public. While Gallup polling showed 72 percent approved of unions in 1936 and 60 percent did in 2007 that number has since dipped below 50 percent.
That means that when these unions are embattled there are fewer people ready to stand up for them. The result as we saw in Wisconsin and on ballot measures in San Jose and San Diego stripping public employees of pension benefits is that efforts to fight back dont have as much might behind them.
The same Gallup poll in August showed that 55 percent of Americans thought unions would be weaker in the future than they are today versus 20 percent who thought theyd be stronger. Americans arent fortune-tellers of course but they can spot a trend.
And lastly and perhaps most importantly union membership continues to decline.
While about one-quarter of Americans were in unions in the 1960s that number has fallen by half to just 11.8 percent in 2011. While 37 percent of public sector employees belong to a union just 7 percent of private sector employees are still in unions a reversal of the historical balance between the too.
The public sector unions lifeline though is the will of the public itself. While Americans may be less approving of unions than they were in the past they are still in favor of the concept of unions.
A Fox News poll conducted after the brouhaha in Wisconsin early last year showed that 60 percent of Americans said unions are necessary to protect workers. And when Ohios Republican governor stripped his public employees of collective bargaining rights voters overturned that decision with a ballot amendment; so its not like unions havent notched any wins in the last couple years.
When you combine that with the fact that about half of Americans still approve of unions (52 percent approve 42 percent disapprove in the most recent Gallup poll) its not hard to see how they will stick around. The question for now seems to be what role they will play.
The election in Wisconsin was certainly an embarrassment for unions capped off by the concurrent votes in San Jose and San Diego and the fact that nearly half of people who live with union members voted for Walker.
It may also have the unhelpful effect of making other Republican governors and legislatures bolder in their efforts to fight unions. And as we saw in Wisconsin it doesnt take much to cause union membership to take a nosedive.
But the fact that unions still have a the support of at least half the American people is hardly insignificant and means this is more likely to be a time of reorganization and change rather than a death knell.
Obama super PAC SEIU launch $4 million ad campaign: Speaking of the unions still being relevant; the Service Employees International Union is up teaming with Priorities USA the top super PAC supporting Obama for a $4 million Spanish-language ad campaign.
As the Posts Felicia Sonmez reports the ad will run in the three Latino-heavy swing states: Colorado Florida and Nevada. It is being billed as one of the biggest Spanish language efforts in the history of presidential politics.
The ad features video of Romney speaking in English with Spanish speakers responding to what he says. (All the ads can be found here.)
The only political entity that might have had a worse week than President Obama last week was the public sector union.
For the third time in 14 months a full-throated attempt from labor to exact retribution on Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) for curtailing collective bargaining rights for public sector unions fell flat.
And its got some writing the obituary of the public sector union arguing that it will soon join the private sector union in the realm of the politically irrelevant.
Which makes sense in some ways and doesnt in others.
As Obama noted in a rather inartful way on Friday the economic recession has hit government employees harder than the private sector. Its natural during time of austerity for politicians to target public employees for cuts and create conflict; the unhelpful side effect if youre labor is that this occurs at a time when those same cutbacks are also creating less union members overall.
So its not surprising to see the unions at a weak point right now.
But its also pretty clear that the public sector unions political capital is heading in one direction down.
Over the last several decades unions have increasingly fallen out of favor with the American public. While Gallup polling showed 72 percent approved of unions in 1936 and 60 percent did in 2007 that number has since dipped below 50 percent.
That means that when these unions are embattled there are fewer people ready to stand up for them. The result as we saw in Wisconsin and on ballot measures in San Jose and San Diego stripping public employees of pension benefits is that efforts to fight back dont have as much might behind them.
The same Gallup poll in August showed that 55 percent of Americans thought unions would be weaker in the future than they are today versus 20 percent who thought theyd be stronger. Americans arent fortune-tellers of course but they can spot a trend.
And lastly and perhaps most importantly union membership continues to decline.
While about one-quarter of Americans were in unions in the 1960s that number has fallen by half to just 11.8 percent in 2011. While 37 percent of public sector employees belong to a union just 7 percent of private sector employees are still in unions a reversal of the historical balance between the too.
The public sector unions lifeline though is the will of the public itself. While Americans may be less approving of unions than they were in the past they are still in favor of the concept of unions.
A Fox News poll conducted after the brouhaha in Wisconsin early last year showed that 60 percent of Americans said unions are necessary to protect workers. And when Ohios Republican governor stripped his public employees of collective bargaining rights voters overturned that decision with a ballot amendment; so its not like unions havent notched any wins in the last couple years.
When you combine that with the fact that about half of Americans still approve of unions (52 percent approve 42 percent disapprove in the most recent Gallup poll) its not hard to see how they will stick around. The question for now seems to be what role they will play.
The election in Wisconsin was certainly an embarrassment for unions capped off by the concurrent votes in San Jose and San Diego and the fact that nearly half of people who live with union members voted for Walker.
It may also have the unhelpful effect of making other Republican governors and legislatures bolder in their efforts to fight unions. And as we saw in Wisconsin it doesnt take much to cause union membership to take a nosedive.
But the fact that unions still have a the support of at least half the American people is hardly insignificant and means this is more likely to be a time of reorganization and change rather than a death knell.
Obama super PAC SEIU launch $4 million ad campaign: Speaking of the unions still being relevant; the Service Employees International Union is up teaming with Priorities USA the top super PAC supporting Obama for a $4 million Spanish-language ad campaign.
As the Posts Felicia Sonmez reports the ad will run in the three Latino-heavy swing states: Colorado Florida and Nevada. It is being billed as one of the biggest Spanish language efforts in the history of presidential politics.
The ad features video of Romney speaking in English with Spanish speakers responding to what he says. (All the ads can be found here.)
