"THE BRAZENNESS WITH WHICH THEY'VE PAID BACK BIG LABOR IS ASTONISHING"

The Hill (7/24, Swanson)

"The day after voters returned Democrats to power in the House and Senate last year, the AFL-CIO held a press conference at its Washington headquarters to announce that union members had come to the polls in large numbers to vote Democratic. They also promised to remind the new rulers of Congress that labor put them there, and that unions would be back in 2007 looking for support.

So far, all indications show Democrats in Congress have been happy to oblige one of their most loyal constituencies. Legislation backed by labor that was left on the shelves when the House was under Republican rule has been dusted off by Democrats and moved to the floor. This includes so-called card-check legislation approved by the House earlier this year, which was the subject of a huge lobbying fight between labor and business.

By contrast, free-trade agreements opposed by labor and negotiated by the Bush administration have been delayed, some apparently until after the 2008 election...House Republican Conference Chairman Adam Putnam (R-Fla.) agreed with the labor leaders, but put a different spin on the changing tides.

‘The brazenness with which they've paid back Big Labor is astonishing,' said Putnam, who thinks the loyalty will come back to haunt Democrats next year, particularly since labor unions now represent less than 8 percent of the nation's private workforce. Putnam said the shifting fortunes for labor reflect ‘a blatant return to the old stereotype of Big Labor bosses pulling the strings of Democrats...

'Still, while union proposals have won momentum, only one union priority - an increase in the minimum wage - has actually become law. Other measures have been held up in the Senate by Republican-led filibusters or are threatened by presidential vetoes."

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