Unions return to Democratic fold for 2012 election (LAT)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-labor-politics-20120220,0,861297.story

After a falling out with the party, labor is back with cash and other support, driven largely by Republican attacks on collective bargaining.



Demonstrators at the Indiana Statehouse in Indianapolis protest Republican-backed legislation barring labor contracts that require all workers to pay union fees. (Darron Cummings, Associated Press / January 4, 2012)

By Matea Gold and Melanie Mason, Washington Bureau

February 19, 2012, 10:31 p.m.
Reporting from Washington—

Last May, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka stood a few blocks from the White House and issued a stern warning: Union members could not be counted on as the Democrats' foot soldiers anymore.

"If leaders aren't blocking the wrecking ball and advancing working families' interests, then working people will not support them," he said in a speech at the National Press Club.

Flash forward to today: Labor appears squarely back in the Democrats' corner for the 2012 election — pushed there in large part by Republican attacks on collective bargaining rights for public employees.

Those and other anti-union measures are rallying organized labor to the side of its longtime Democratic allies, and not just in states such as Wisconsin, Ohio and Michigan, where they are battling efforts aimed at curbing union organizing.

FULL story at link.