The Union's weird move in Denver

The AFL-CIO has issued a public challenge to both Colorado and the DNC, and if it doesn't get it's way, it says it will "strongly urge the Democratic Party to relocate the convention." As you can imagine this news sent Colorado democrats scurrying to make the union happy.

Real quick hullabaloo background here.

Anyway, the Denver Post's update outlines Colorado Democrat's rapid response to union Demands. Democratic Governor Bill Ritter, the man who vetoed the bill the AFL-CIO's all panty bundled about, is in full panic mode. Say's his spokesman, "The governor understands that the AFL-CIO and other labor organizations are upset. He welcomes the dialogue." While, CO House Speaker Andrew Romanoff (D-Denver) said he would rather spend the rest of the session "focusing on issues of common ground, like education and health care." The way they're bowing to union pressure is just embarrassing.

Which begs the question, "What exactly is the union doing?" I've been sitting on this post trying to figure out the union's goal. Having a public fit makes no sense. There's no way, zero, that the Dems can bow to the union after this public calling out, as doing do would kill them in 2008. Not only that, but the Dems best chance for victory lies in making inroads int he west. Bowing to union pressure and reneging on the decision to have the convention in Denver would set them back years, if not decades. Not only that, but the Dems are poised to retake the White House, why rock the boat now? As for the Dems, their only hope to avoid directly letting the union down is for CO to capitulate, which just isn't going to happen. This isn't Michigan, it's not like there's a huge union base in CO that will rally around the call. Not only that, but a Democratic Governor vetoed the bill. Plus, people in the west just don't like other people telling them what to do, know your audience. Maybe they wanted to create media around the veto of the bill, but one, CO's moved on and didn't really care the first time around. Two, by putting itself in the position of inevitable failure, the AFL-CIO, already struggling, looks weaker and comes off even worse. The union's best chance on all this was to work behind the scenes, maybe get some kind of concession about using union labor on the convention, or some kind of assurance that the bill will be re-introduced so that the union can put together another, better, campaign to get it passed. But now that this is public, everyone is forced to dig in their heels. The DNC and CO have the hand here, and they'll use it. The union is the weak link, and they'll be broken (good thing there's no union prohibition against mixed metaphors).

But this "public pressure" tactic reflects the union's longing for yesteryear, when they could dictate policy. In order to survive, the union's must accept that they just aren't the player they used to be, work the margins, get subtle, get better at "behind the scenes" negotiations, and make themselves powerful by aiding, not threatening Democratic initiatives. They did a great job getting rid of private ballots, and had the chance to build on that. Instead, they fell back into their hamfisted ways with CO and are getting publicly spanked.