Despite Teamsters boss James Hoffa's promise of a "union army" marching for Barack Obama, a Harris poll of union households finds surprisingly sharp differences and doubts about Big Labor.
The Harris Interactive survey found substantial numbers of union household members hold anti-union attitudes:
- 60 percent believe unions are too involved in political activities;
- 63 percent think unions are more concerned with fighting change than with trying to bring about change.
Those numbers compare respectively to 72 percent and 71 percent of all households surveyed.
Even worse for unions are the negative "internal" views held by union households:
- 46 percent believe unions stifle individual initiative.
- Only 47 percent think unions give members their moneys worth for the dues they pay.
Harris, which surveyed 2,450 people Aug. 8-15, says such mixed feelings could chip away at union solidarity in the 2012 election.
"Several months ago, during the stand-off in Wisconsin between Governor Scott Walker and the Democratic state senators over the rights of public employees to engage in collective bargaining, the role of labor unions came under new scrutiny," the Harris survey said.
"As a result of Governor Walker's actions, the unions in Wisconsin may have garnered a certain amount of sympathy. However, this new Harris Poll shows that, nationally, many people are very critical of labor union activities. Even among union households they are seen as being too political."
Unions still maintained a positive profile on some indicators.
For example, 72 percent of union household members agreed that unions improve wages and working conditions of workers, while 55 percentagree that unions work to get legislation that helps all working people, whether they are union members or not.
"What we dont know is if individual initiative has been stifled to the point that no one will do anything about it," said Mike Antonucci, who writes about labor issues for the Sacramento, Calif.-based Education Intelligence Agency.
Also unknown is whether Hoffa and other Big Labor leaders can deliver a unified "union army" for Obama, or if blue-collar workers will flee the Democratic Party as they did in 1980.
Amid stagflation of double-digit inflation and lagging growth, union voters abandoned Democrat Jimmy Carter's re-election bid and helped sweep Ronald Reagan to victory.
Projecting continued high unemployment rates and a lagging economy under Obama, Republican strategists see a new generation of "Reagan Democrats" emerging in 2012.
One big difference, however, is the steady growth in public-sector unions in the past three decades. While unionized private-sector workers may question the Democratic prescription of expanded federal regulation and spending, government employees tend to favor such policies as serving their own financial interests.
Meantime, the Obama administration is expanding union clout at the National Labor Relations Board.
Controversially, the NLRB has attempted to prevent Boeing Co., America's largest exporter, from operating a plant in South Carolina because of that state's right-to-work law.
More recently, the Democrat majority on the NLRB issued a rule requiring companies to post notices about employee rights to unionize, collectively bargain and strike -- even though the board has no statutory authority to promulgate such a rule.
The board also has proposed "quickie" union elections, which the Americans for Prosperity Foundation said would force "ambush" elections on employers in as little as 10 days.
Obama's critics note that his appearance with Hoffa in Detroit this week sent an ironic, if not toxic, signal. And not simply because of Hoffa's crude vow to take on and "take out" what he called tea party "son of a bitches."
The Motor City -- which is heavily unionized and long controlled by Democrats -- is a poster child for municipal dysfunction as it hemorrhages jobs and population amid chronic political corruption.
Although Michigan remains heavily unionized, University of Virginia political science professor Larry Sabato believes that the economically battered state could well flip to the GOP in 2012.
Sabato projects that other highly unionized Midwestern states -- including Wisconsin, Ohio and Indiana -- are poised to return to the Republican fold as well.
While union leaders such as AFL-CIO president Richard Trumpka (who hitched a ride to the Detroit rally on Air Force One) try to prop up Obama and present themselves as guardians of the "middle class," the rank and file isn't necessarily following the script.
A new Gallup poll shows just 52 percent of Americans approve of labor unions, a steady decline from the 70 percent range organized labor enjoyed in past years.
Citing the erosion of Big Labor's popular support, Gallup managing editor Jeffrey Jones sees a greater politicization of union issues" -- some of it rising within the households of increasingly dubious union members.
Reach Kenric Ward at kward@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 801-5341.
