The markets rose on the news of Barack Obama’s economic policy team Monday, but some labor spirits fell.
Obama’s team of treasury secretary and four top economic advisers, introduced as the hands that will steer America’s economy, had no particular ties to the labor movement. And Obama’s secretary of labor was not introduced as part of that team — a suggestion that that post will retain its second-tier status and quiet voice in matters central to economic policy.
“I wish that [the secretary of labor] would have been among them,” former Michigan congressman David Bonior, a labor stalwart and member of Obama’s transition team, said of the group at the Chicago press conference. “I hope they take that job seriously.”
Labor’s low profile in Obama’s transition is striking because of unions’ vital role in the general election campaign. While Wall Street split its contributions between Obama and John McCain, labor, after dividing its efforts in the Democratic primary, united behind the Democrat and emerged as by far the strongest outside force in the general election. Unions reportedly spent well over $100 million communicating with their members and other voters. The Service Employees International Union alone spent more than $30 million on an independent campaign for Obama, while many of the AFL-CIO unions played key roles in overcoming potential prejudice among their older, white members.
“You can make the case that Obama wouldn’t have won without the labor movement — troops, money, key states,” said the executive director of the pro-union Labor Research Association, Jonathan Tasini, reflecting a widespread view in the labor ranks. “But when it comes down to it, they don’t have the kind of juice to say, ‘This is how we want the economic team to look.’”
That doesn’t mean labor has no agenda in the transition. They’re expecting a pro-union labor secretary — a shift from Bush’s low-profile Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, who was often at odds with organized labor. (Chao is best known as the answer to a trivia question: Who is the only Bush cabinet secretary who will have served all eight years?) Labor is also focused on the job of United States Trade Representative. And they’re debating how hard to push Obama on the Employee Free Choice Act, a bill that would make organizing easier.
Labor pained: Labor sec. not on econ team - Ben Smith - Politico.com
