Can anyone give me any information on how trades unions in America get involved in politics over there.

Do they affiliate with one particular party? If so, which one?

Is there anything like the trade unionism in the UK, where trades unions give money to the Labour Party and have a 1/3 say in internal party matters?

Is there an umbrella trades union organisation?

How much power do trades unions have??

And what are your views on trade unions and their involvement in politics? Good, bad? More, less?

Cheers!

American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) is the umbrella group of American trade unions...

Trade unions almost always side with the Democratic Party. They've got a lot of power.

Right now, American car companies are going on strike. The American car industry has been in decline since the 1970's. Meanwhile Japanese companies have been gaining market ground. Toyota has become the #1 car brand in America.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl...iz/5204729.html
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/...toryId=15210810
http://www.usnews.com/articles/opin...-of-an-era.html

They have a lot of power because there are so many of them. Any presidential candidate has to court to blue-collar labor groups because of how many votes there are.

My personal view is overall approving. There needs to be a balance in large multi-billion dollar corporations between management and worker. I view it as a kind of corporate checks and balances.

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What would you say their political views are? In the UK the trade unions are pretty hard core left, with lots of Trotskyists in their ranks.

Are the unions in America socialist? If not what?

It's just you said they side with the Democrats but neither of the main parties strike me as particularly left wing (economically). Do they donate money to the Democrats and have a say how the party is run?

Do you think there could ever be any moves in the future for the AFL-CIO to create a workers party to compete with the two main parties??

quote:

Originally posted by George Smiley What would you say their political views are? In the UK the trade unions are pretty hard core left, with lots of Trotskyists in their ranks. Are the unions in America socialist? If not what? It's just you said they side with the Democrats but neither of the main parties strike me as particularly left wing (economically). Do they donate money to the Democrats and have a say how the party is run? Do you think there could ever be any moves in the future for the AFL-CIO to create a workers party to compete with the two main parties??

Well, they are more like democratic socialists. They want the minimum wage high, free health care, insurance, welfare, unemployment, etc.

In America, if you want a say in the government, you're either democrat or republican, so they side with the dems, even though they aren't particularly socialist.

They donate millions of dollars to democratic campaigns but don't particularly tell the democrats how to run the party. But they do have a voice, but not as loud as those in the UK in their Labour party.

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