That was a great line about the ATM machine, and I’m using it to refuse every request for donations that I get from the Dems:

This working woman and former union member is no longer your ATM machine.
Fool me once,twice, three times, that’s about enuf.

After watching this video, I am beginning to realize why unions are being marginalized by this administration. Leo Gerard states that he “loves” this President. Is he showing cognitive dissonance or is it simply acting like the “victim” and making excuses. Until Mr. Gerard comes to grips with the fact that President Obama is a corporate Democrat who certainly doesn’t have the interests of labor in mind, he (and labor) will continue to be marginalized. Leo Gerard shouldn’t make excuses for the President.

People in the South don’t really even understand what unions do.
If you have lived in a right-to-work state all of your life, the idea that you would be forced to join a union just to get a job somewhere is beyond comprehension. There are no collective bargaining fees for non-union members to pay in Right-to-work states. If they are in the very rare position to join a union, they see more of their paycheck gone with very little in return. Non-union workers see things like holiday pay bargained away but they don’t even know why or what was gotten in return because they aren’t union members so they just start to resent the union.

In simple terms, the south sees unions as carpetbaggers who, having destroyed Detroit and Pittsburgh, are looking for new territory to ravage. It certainly is not fair or true, but that is the common belief among both democrats and republicans in south.

The dislike and distrust of unions is bipartisan all throughout the south.

I am writing this so people in union states can understand the mindset of anti-union southern democrats.
I am not defending these beliefs, but it important to know how ubiquitous they are in any right-to-work state. The south doesn’t understand, like, or trust the unions.

That is the challenge.

I’d like to see the next 10 million the Unions spend in the South go towards their own image. I’d like labor to go one state at a time on an offensive to teach the people of the south what unions are for, why they are good, why they are desirable.

Couldn’t agree more. No wonder these unions are held in such contempt by the Democratic Party leadership, starting with Obama himself. Is it too hard for this president he loves to respond to the Rahm comment? No, it isn’t. He doesn’t distance himself from it because he agrees with it. Are you completely delusional, Trumka?? Jeez!

Jane,

Surely you can do better than this A$$-Clown…….. Speakingupnow has it exactly right. I saw the complete interview with this buffoon, and as I said in a previous post on Menendez, my point of view on this still stands. As long as labor continues to go back to the Democrats like an abused spouse, then they will rightfully deserve the continued b*tch-slapping that the DNC gives them…………..

Labor has been attacked by the Corporate Presidents like Clinton, Obama, Bush 1, Bush 2, Reagan, etc. with no one to support them and their causes for years.

If the netroots had been around during the Clinton NAFTA direct attack on Labor Clinton probably would have been hated by all democrats today.

Labor has been on the front line for years, and they have been getting wiped out by Corporate Presidents and the Corporate Media. (the Corporate MEDIA is number ONE enemy of LABOR!, not Corporate Politicians)

Classic example the Halter campaign was attack by the Corporate Media because they used Labor. (listen to MSNBC, NBC, ABC, CBS, etc. they made the fight between Halter and Lincoln, a fight between Labor and Lincoln.) The Corporate Media has program people over the years to hate Labor.

It is a very good trick, by the Corporate Media and the elites, The elites know you can’t tell americans we are attacking the Middle Class, so they say they are attacking labor. (Labor = the Middle Class, no Big Labor, no Middle Class, all the elites know this)

The Corporate Media is now trying to make the Net Roots, the new enemy by calling them Radical.

The Political Parties are an illusion of power, the Power to control the masses in the USA is found in the arms of the Corporate Media.

The first mistake most groups makes is taking their strategies and plans to the Corporate Media, which is just like telling the enemy everything you plan to do.

Know thyself and Know thy enemies! and you will never be defeated! Sun Tzu

Labor “the MIDDLE CLASS” has always been surrounded by enemies. (Obama individual mandate is a direct attack on the MIDDLE CLASS, hidden behind the illusion of Health Care Reform)

Leo Gerard seems to be doing quite a good job with GLOBAL labor solidarity. If the President is smart, which he is, he will learn quickly from this recent AK backlash to have a healthy respect for Mr. Gerard.

I told folks prior to Obama’s election that it would take 30 weeks or 30 years to take the country back based on how powerful the internet becomes. It looks to me pretty powerful since a year in corporate dems are fearing the primaries. Mr. Gerard is harnessing that power too.