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It's indicative of a meaningful shift in the national discourse that the President of the United States is personally expressing support for a union's sit-down strike.
“When it comes to the situation here in Chicago with the workers who are asking for their benefits and payments they have earned, I think they are absolutely right,” Obama said Sunday at a news conference announcing his new Veterans Affairs director. “What’s happening to them is reflective of what’s happening across this economy...I think that these workers, if they have earned their benefits and their pay, then these companies need to follow through on those commitments."One interesting side of Obama is that he managed to win the election without proving particularly reliant on any single interest group. Labor does not have much of a claim on him, and nor does the AARP, or the Sierra Club. So these sorts of statements are more significant than if Obama were simply giving the AFL-CIO some expected payback, as they suggest a certain level of authentic sympathy. Slightly more operationally, it's making me look forward to learning who Obama will appoint to Labor, and arguably more importantly, who he'll put on the National Labor Relations Board.
