Following the above title should be the subtitle “Why Business and Politics Don’t Mix” – One need not look much further than any recent daily paper to find articles entitles “FedEx, Teamsters Battle on Bill” to get a flavor of what is brewing in Washington; dangerous legislation funded by Unions, blessed by the WHite House and a jobs-killer.
In case you missed it I am referring to current legislation aimed to give Unions the right to more easily unionize within the airline industry, something they are hindered from doing and with good reason. And the AFL-CIO, the primary funding source for getting Obama in office, is making this bill a “top priority”.
Although in this current round it is the Democrats, headed by James Oberstar (D.Minn) either party can be found “guilty”. In this round nine of the top 11 campaign contributors to Oberstar’s campaign are labor unions and needless to say, they are on a mission to get this bill passed. Proponents and big donors include the Teamsters, Airline Pilots Association and the Machinists/Aerospace Workers Unions who collectively, gave upwards of $725,000 to date to Oberstar’s campaign. If the bill passes it will ease unions into a “strategic space” to potentially increase membership at companies like FedEx and even in overseas locations while trying to recapture maintenance work that has drifted there as a means to save sky-rocketing costs.
But let’s face it, although this round belongs to the Democrats should we as Americans continue to tolerate any US corporation donating hundreds of thousand of dollars to influence any elected official? The answer should be a resounding “No!” It’s time for our Congress to step up and do the right thing and create true campaign reform that limits corporate donors to “zero” and allows the American people to fund campaigns, with limits, to stop this game of “whoever has the biggest stick wins” – enough is enough.
