Merle Haggard

So, you think our old MEC was alone atop the slime pile? I ran into the Teamsters president in the airport about six weeks ago and we talked a fair amount. He had some very unflattering things to say about the republicans. He even wanted to know if I'd seen when he was nearing a fistfight with Markwayne Mullin. There is apparently no longer even a pretense of ideals - just go ahead and say one thing and do the opposite.

BlueMoon

Good strategy on his part. You won’t change any minds if you only talk to people who agree with you.

Merle Haggard

Right. The republicans are now pro-union.

The only leverage the unions have is their support (read: votes). If they give (or even imply) that support without demanding anything in return then they have nothing.

Why buy the cow when the milk is free?

His speech was pretty darn good. Unfortunately, nobody actually listens to substance. What O'brien did last night will certainly make a lot of union laborers feel better about voting against their own interests.

acecrackshot

I don't know if I'd count the Democratic Party as strongly pro-union after managing to sign a bill that ended the Rail impasse. Since 1978, labor pilots haven't exactly won big under Democrats. That's fine, as we are a small cohort. I think our big pilot centric legisative goals, like preventing cabotage, RCO, flag of convienance operations, etc. need to focus on a broad range of policy reasons for why these are bad ideas for national security, economic or safety reasons. Sure, we might get a more receptive audience in some circles over others, but I tend to believe that I don't care where the votes come from, just which column they are in at the end of the day.

I think that labor would be better served with being willing to support individual candidates, especially in key races, than being a "for sure" constituancy.

Merle Haggard

I don't disagree with anything you said. Maybe the way he pumped Josh Hawley will entice some others to step up. I'm a cynic though - I'll bet that shoutout is gonna cost Hawley more in corporate campaign money than it was worth to him. The corporate donors and CEO's will make sure that individual politicians know that the price for supporting labor is high.

BlueMoon

I definitely wouldn’t go that far in saying Republicans are pro-union. Their actions haven’t born that out yet.

there is an opportunity for republicans though as labor hasn’t won much under democrats. We’ll see if it is just lip service.

I’ve always voted my interests. I don’t think people care who their union endorses.

Merle Haggard

For clarification I was being sarcastic about pro-union republicans.

I agree that most people vote their own interests however I also believe that most normal people can find neither a candidate nor a party that represents their interests. Now, if you're "marginalized" or a CEO, or a billionaire - there's a candidate for you.

BlueMoon

I can definitely agree with that.

Yuko

Louder for those in the back!

AJ311

23% for 2023, plus company retirment contributions on the bonus total.