State of the (Labor) Union: movement still counts on the White House

[Omaha Steve]

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Unions don’t bring members to the polls as they once did, but many are looking to Obama to deliver on wages, paid sick leave and other workers’ rights



A union supporter at a protest in Wisconsin. Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Jana Kasperkevic @kasperka
Tuesday 20 January 2015 08.25 EST

In his state of the union address tonight, President Obama is likely to talk about working families and their financial struggles. That means he is sure to give a nod to the nation’s labor unions, whose influence is still strong with the White House – if not with as many American workers as in the past.

The giants of organized labor, including the United Auto Workers, the AFL-CIO, the SEIU, AFSCME and others, have long owned the political interests of working families, from minimum wage to better jobs to immigration.

Bolstering their standing in politics, the unions are the largest political contributors in America. The SEIU is the largest all-time political contributor in the US – more so than even the banking or pharmaceutical industries – with over $209m in donations to political candidates between 1989 and 2014, according to Open Secrets.

Labor unions are also savvy political players: they seem content to stay in the political background as long as the issues they have lobbied for make it into the speech.

FULL story at link.