The Cost Of Greed

Unions And Politics: Big Labor finally has a friend in the White House and allies in control of Congress. But it still doesn't have the public on its side. If anything, it's in danger of making more enemies.

This was supposed to be the renaissance year for organized labor. With Republicans routed from every position of power in Congress and the executive branch, unions saw a clear path to long-cherished goals such as card-check and national health. Instead, 2009 has been a surprising struggle.

True, the administration of Barack Obama has helped where it could, as when it gave the United Auto Workers an ownership stake in GM and Chrysler. But the bigger story has been the public push-back against the unions' political agenda.

Secret ballots, at least for now, are still the rule in union-certification elections. The president's support of a government health insurance, the shortest route to a single-payer plan, is on-again, off-again. And the public's patience with union demands shows signs of fraying.

Take the case of San Francisco, surely one of the most liberal and union-friendly places in the country.

Train operators and station agents for the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system touched off a public outcry when they rejected a contract offer and threatened to walk off the job on Monday.

San Francisco Chronicle reporter Carla Marinucci said readers of the paper and its SFGate Web site were "angry at BART's unions for supporting a walkout and livid about the huge disruptions the strike will cause working people in the region."

Union negotiators backed off their strike threat hours before the deadline; members will vote Tuesday on a new contract. Significantly, the deal accepted Sunday night was reported to be not much different from the one the union had rejected. To put it another way, they saw which way the winds were blowing.

BART drivers already got more than $100,000 a year in pay and benefits. In a state with unemployment at 11.6%, this was no time to shut down the trains in pursuit of a sweeter deal.

Outside the Bay Area labor paradise, the public's attitude toward unions doesn't seem to have changed much since Obama was elected. In fact, a Gallup poll taken in June suggests that the presence of a labor-friendly liberal in the White House may even have hurt Big Labor's reputation - perhaps by stoking fears that the unions may finally get what they want, like an end to secret ballots.

In its annual poll ranking Americans' confidence in major national institutions, Gallup found organized labor near the bottom.

Just 19% of the respondents said they had "a great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in unions. Only three institutions fared worse - HMOs, Congress and big business (small business did much better, coming in second just below the military). Even banks, with a 22% confidence score, beat unions.

More discouraging for the unions is that their standing in the Gallup survey has never been lower. As recently as 2004, their confidence score was 31%. True, this is just one survey, but it does suggest the public sees union greed and corporate greed as near cousins. And Americans still root for the up-and-coming entrepreneur against just about anyone, including union organizers.

Public-sector unions in particular seem to be wearing out their welcome. California is gaining clarity about the role of state employee unions in creating the state's budget crisis. These unions crushed Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's first attempts at reform in 2005, but now he's taking them on again.

Still, the labor movement hasn't lost all its bite. We still can expect plenty of instant, well-organized outrage when one of the movement's designated bad guys raises his head in public.

John Mackey, CEO of nonunionized Whole Foods Market, found this out when he wrote an op-ed piece against Obama's (and organized labor's) medical insurance plan.

Also, organized labor still has the power to shut down public transit in a major metropolitan area. But does it dare try?