Service Union Plans Big Push to Turn Midwest Political Tide.

[elleng]

'Challenging the Republican ascendance in states where labor once carried enormous sway, a prominent union plans to spend tens of millions of dollars during the 2018 campaign cycle to reverse the trend.

The Service Employees International Union, one of the largest and wealthiest unions in the United States with roughly 2 million members, will fund an extensive campaign over the next 14 months to elect politicians with labor-friendly stands on the minimum wage, unions and health care.

The effort will primarily aim at the traditionally industrial states of the Midwest and Rust Belt, where labor’s political influence has come under a furious assault from conservative forces in recent decades, culminating in President Trump’s electoral sweep of the traditionally Democratic states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Since 2010, four states in the region have enacted so-called right-to-work legislation that allows workers to opt out of paying fees to unions that bargain on their behalf. Elected leaders in several states have acted to block or reverse minimum-wage increases.'>>>

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/24/business/economy/seiu-labor-midwest-politics.html?

[RKP5637]

1. K&R!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! n/t

[wasupaloopa]

2. I am glad I was represented by the SEIU until

I retired.

The way to improve lives is not only to create jobs but create union jobs.

Because of my union membership I have a pension and I worked for a county that does not have a huge unfunded pension liability.

I live in CA where the right does not enforce their ideology on everyone.

[whathehell]

4. +10

[marylandblue]

3. Unfortunately, unions have a lot of ground to make up

They've been unsuccessfully fighting anti union efforts in Wisconsin and Michigan for years. Throwing more money at sympathetic candidates isn't enough.

[tazkcmo]

5. Good on them.

I hope they're also committing an equal or larger amount to union expansion in the Midwest. The service industry is fertile ground and an increasingly important sector of our economy, unfortunately. Also, the work force and the work itself, is no longer a teenager's part-time summer diversion. Working people NEED these unions, especially in the service sector and more automation.