Smaller Unions Complain Of White House Cold Shoulder

But more broadly, they say the liaison office was more focused on getting labor groups behind the president’s existing policies rather than inviting labor to be a part of forming those policies in the first place. Hanley pointed to Obama’s recent trip to a Tennessee Amazon warehouse to make a speech about jobs — a move that drew criticism from worker’s advocates — as a sign that the White House doesn’t invite union input before making decisions. Hanley noted that the Amazon warehouse was not accessible by public transport, a slap in the face to members of his transit union. Junemann said his union wasn’t told ahead of time about Obama’s proposal to study privatizing the Tennessee Valley Authority, a move that rankled the IFPTE’s TVA employee members.

Internal union feuds play a large part in these concerns. Smaller labor groups often feel shutout by the big, rich unions, observers say.

“Smaller unions never feel like they get enough,” said one former labor official who has also worked as a government representative to labor. “You can’t expect the White House to jump every time a union that has 7,000 members has an issue.”

It’s also not clear that labor can ever be really satisfied in modern politics. Asked to contrast their experience with the Obama White House with labor outreach from past White Houses, most of the critics hearkened back to labor’s heyday in the 20th century. More than one mentioned FDR.

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