Unions brace for anti-labor shift in Congress, states
FRESH FROM THEIR historic victories in the U.S. House, as well as gains in the U.S. Senate and state offices, the GOP appears determined to pursue an anti-worker, anti-labor agenda. Their “to-do list” is extensive: repeal health care reform, kill pro-labor legislation, slash government jobs, dismantle business regulations, pass more free trade laws, and place a Republican in the White House in 2012, among other objectives.
How much of their agenda can actually be accomplished remains to be seen, but organized labor and its allies are bracing for a protracted battle. The power shift will stymie most pro-labor initiatives in Congress as well as in many state governments.
Things may not go easily for the GOP either, however. As the GOP’s post-election euphoria begins to wear off, the party will have to face its own set of challenges. And a frustrated and angry electorate will be watching closely.
Will GOP lead or obstruct?
AMERICANS ARE FED up with partisan bickering and gridlock. They demand real progress that moves the country forward, creates jobs, and revives the economy. During the past two years, Republicans have sat on the sidelines while Democratic majorities in the House and Senate, along with President Obama, did the heavy lifting to avoid a complete economic meltdown and finally address our broken health care system. Now that the GOP holds the majority in the House and are closer to parity in the Senate, the question is, will they lead or obstruct?
Recent comments by prominent Republicans in Congress show that the GOP has little interest in working with Democrats to solve the nation’s problems.
- In an interview with the National Journal, Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader from Kentucky, said, “The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.”
- Speaking on Sean Hannity’s radio show, Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio 8th), the presumptive new speaker of the house, asserted, “We will not compromise.”
- And Sen. Jim Demint (R-SC), a leading voice for the Tea Party movement, told the National Journal, “Right now in the Senate there’s really not a Democrat we can work with.”
Such naked partisanship points to further gridlock. At a time when the nation is suffering from an economy that is slow to heal and many Americans are hurting, this is exactly what the electorate does not want to hear.
GOP risks overreaching
PROMPTED BY THE Tea Party and other hard-line conservatives, GOP objectives have swung sharply to the right, with the centerpiece being the repeal of health care reform. Sen. McConnell has indicated how he and his party plan to approach the issue, telling the Heritage Foundation, “We can — and should — propose and vote on straight repeal, repeatedly.”
But the problem for Republicans is they don’t have a plan for replacing the current legislation with something better; they just want to start over. Attempting to undo health care reform without a clear path forward may further expose the GOP’s lack of leadership in fixing a broken system. And even if they were successful in getting a bill through Congress repealing reform, a presidential veto would be virtually certain.
Other GOP objectives could have dangerous consequences for the party as well:
- Downsizing the government will cost thousands of workers their jobs, adding to the unemployment rolls at a time when we are struggling to create jobs.
- Dismantling business regulations will remind voters of the lack of oversight given to Wall Street, which triggered the economic downturn.
- More free trade deals will cause more American jobs to be shifted overseas.
GOP leaders claim they understand that voters did not give them a mandate. Indeed, exit polls on Election Day showed 52 percent of voters rated the party unfavorably (53 percent rated the Democratic Party unfavorably). Should the GOP overreach, they could encounter a substantial voter backlash in 2012.
Labor’s legislative goals take a hit
AN EARLY CASUALTY of the midterm elections is legislation sought by the Boilermakers and the broader labor movement. With a new majority in the House, Republicans can effectively prevent legislation they don’t like from being considered.
A comprehensive energy bill with a cap and trade provision appears to be dead for the foreseeable future. Labor and many of our business partners in the construction industry favor cap and trade as a way to address climate change by placing a cost on carbon emissions and allowing companies to buy and sell carbon credits. The approach would have promoted new efficiencies and allowed those emitting carbon to reduce their footprint over time. The legislation was passed in the Democratic House but stalled in the Senate.
Opponents of the bill demonized cap and trade but offered no alternatives to reducing carbon emissions. (There may, however, be room for compromise on some energy matters, as Sen. McConnell has indicated support for nuclear energy and clean-coal technology.)
“This election was utterly devastating for those who believe we need to address climate change in a serious way,” said Abe Breehey, the Boilermakers’ Director of Legislative Affairs. “Moderate coal-state Democrats who worked to assemble some important compromises were wiped out.” Breehey also predicted that the GOP House will attempt to “hamstring the EPA’s ability to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.“
The Employee Free Choice Act will also be quashed by the GOP-controlled House. Republicans and business groups have strenuously resisted the measure, which would have made the process of forming a union simpler and fairer to workers.
Any other legislation that favors labor unions is not likely to be introduced for the next several years, at least.
Trouble brews at state level
AT THE STATE level, the situation for labor and its allies is also daunting. Republicans now control 54 state chambers to the Democrats’ 40, with one chamber tied. Results are still pending in some races. However, in 20 states Republicans now have across-the-board control of both chambers and the governorship. Unions can expect tough new battles against so-called “Right to Work” and “Paycheck Protection” legislation.
Republican governors now outnumber their Democratic counterparts. This presents a problem for pro-worker candidates, especially in key presidential battleground states such as Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Established GOP leadership in these states could create an important advantage for the Republican presidential candidate in 2012 as well as for those seeking state office or running for the U.S. Congress.
Another big concern for labor is congressional redistricting, the process in which states draw the political boundaries for their voters. Governors play an important role in how the process is handled. Should new congressional maps be drawn to favor the party in power (gerrymandering), opposing candidates at both the state and federal levels could be left at a substantial disadvantage in the 2012 elections.
Writing in the National Journal, political analyst Charlie Cook sized it up this way: “Republicans will have unilateral control of the remapping process in states with 190 congressional districts while Democrats will have control over no more than 75, depending on the outcome of some closely contested chambers. Additionally, Democrats will be down to holding just 38 percent of the state legislative seats nationwide, the lowest number since 1956. This is the seed corn for the future; this is where congressional and statewide candidates come from.”
As elections go, Democrats received quite a thrashing. But one thing seems certain as the 112th Congress convenes in January and the midterm results play out — the electorate is growing impatient. They’ll expect compromise and progress. If the GOP continues veering hard to the right, it may well find it has landed in the proverbial ditch. Again.
