You know, these Koufax Awards are great for exposing us to other state blogs, and Bluegrass Report from Kentucky is A. wiping the floor with us and everyone else at the awards (go vote for us!), and B. a really good blog in an interesting state. (Go vote for us anyway!)
In a post today, Mark Nickolas assesses the local effect in Kentucky of last year’s labor split on the political power of unions. His bottom line: “Clearly, there is a new kid on the block. A big one. And you thought organized labor was dead…”
Wow. Well, I wish we could say the same in MA, especially regarding health care. The AFL-CIO seems to have been completely shut out of negotiations(Scot Lehigh thinks it’s personal, for what it’s worth); and although I know SEIU has done yeomen’s work on the issue — you see those purple shirts everywhere at health care events — they/we don’t seem to be pressing the Senate’s buttons, at least.
On the other hand, we’ve seen organized labor’s candidates do pretty well in recent special elections: Moran in the House, Jehlen in the Senate, for instance.
How does labor figure in the governor’s race? What do we need to know?
