AFL-CIO to DNC: Jump!, Part II
by Ryan Sager
Fri, 9 Mar 2007 at 4:58 PM
updated Fri, 9 Mar 2007 at 4:59 PM
So, I wanted to add some more to our earlier item about the AFL-CIO threatening to demand that the Democratic National Committee move the party's 2008 convention out of Denver, Colorado, if it doesn't get the easier-unionization legislation it wants in that state. The actual AFL-CIO threat to Colorado's moderate Democratic governor, Bill Ritter, hasn't been reprinted anywhere, so here's a link to it.
The statement reads in relevant part: "The AFL-CIO Executive Council recognizes that the attention of the American people will be focused on Denver and the state of Colorado as they prepare to host the 2008 Democratic National Convention. ... Unless we can be assured that the Governor will support our values and priorities, we will strongly urge the Democratic Party to relocate the convention."
This is a direct and serious threat to the Denver convention. And it represents a real showdown between a modernizing, more business-friendly Democratic Party and its old, reliable ally, organized labor.
The issue at hand is a bill (House Bill 1072) that organized labor in Colorado wants that would make it easier to create an "all-union" shop in the state. Currently, when workers organize to form a union, they take two votes. One to create a union, which is a simple majority, and a second one to create an all-union shop, which requires a super-majority of 75%. This super-majority is required because, in an all-union shop, employees pay dues or agency fees to the union regardless of whether they are union members. There were 17 of these elections between 2003 and 2006, according to the Denver Post, and the unions won 12 of them. Still, union membership has been on the decline in Colorado since the 1980s. House Bill 1072, which would eliminate the second vote, passed the Colorado Legislature, but Mr. Ritter vetoed it in early February. He said he supported the underlying idea but was unhappy with the way business had been cut out of the debate.
This union threat leaves Mr. Ritter caught between organized labor (and a national party that doesn't want to be embarrassed by labor discord at its convention site) and the moderate, pro-business "western Democrat" image he has tried to cultivate.
The newly elected chairman of the Colorado Republican Party, Dick Wadhams, couldn't be happier. "I've never bought into this western Democrat issue to begin with," he told me over the phone this morning. "When you hone in on real issues like the Colorado Labor Peace Act, and changing it to benefit unions, there's no difference between most Colorado Democrats and their allies in Washington, D.C. It's the same mindset."
"It's clear that labor feels like they've got him over a barrel," Mr. Wadhams said. "Labor thinks it's got the best leverage they're ever going to have with this Democratic convention."
On the strategic issue, Mr. Wadhams is certainly right. The AFL-CIO could hardly have more leverage over Mr. Ritter than it has now. The question at this point is probably how quickly and exactly in what manner he capitulates — not whether he will be forced to do so.
In other words: How high?
The broader question is just what this will mean for Mr. Ritter (and his business-friendly image) going forward and for the Democratic Party, which is trying to remake its image out West.
Latest Politics Homepage
|
Print
Send
RSS
