We can only hope that the rest of the AFL-CIO unions will jump on soon. My bet for next to join? Why, the new UNITE-HERE of course. (Seeing as they're the other progressive union.)

ravenastro

You would expect a union not to support benefits for its membership? The question is rather why others are hesitant--on both sides.

As even the Antichrist who runs the Evil Empire (Michael Eisner/Disney) knows, benefits for same-sex and domestic partners allows you to draw from A LARGER group of possible employees.

It's good for business.

As revenastro alluded to, the SEIU is one of the most progressive unions in the AFL-CIO family. They have a much more progressive membership base than many other affiliates.

For example, the Building and Construction Trades, made up of such unions as the IBEW, the Plumbers and Pipefitters, and the Ironworkers, have a much more conservative (socially and economically) membership base than the SEIU.

The far right has long pushed issues like guns and abortion to drive a wedge between conservative union members' hearts and pocketbooks. Gay marriage is just the GOP's latest effort to entice working people to vote against their own self interest. From the teamsters, electrical workers, and fire fighters I talk to - it's working.

If Bush were at all competent, he would be able to get the same 40% of those union members' votes that Republicans get here in Michigan. Thank God he's not.

Why did you feel the need to end a perfectly good post about the unity of the left wing with a dig at the right? I ask not because I'm defending either "corporate types" or "religious evangelicals," but rather because I think the fact that you felt the need to go there demonstrates a problem within politics today: the inability to advance a positive policy without taking every possible opportunity to turn it into an us vs. them invective. Most people are neither hard rightists nor liberals, and neither side is going to win many points, even if their arguments are as good as the argument in favor of equal marriage rights, if they persist in turning everything into an attack. This is the reason that mainstream politics, quite frankly, makes me feel dirty.

It takes someone to put a motion on the floor at a union meeting. Not many guys are willing to stand up in front of everyone and make a motion to endorse same-sex marriage. In fact, not many industrial unions passed resolutions against the Iraq war. (I believe the Teamsters Local in Chicago passed an anti-war resolution.) The point I'm trying to make in this post is that it takes a lot of courage to stand up for issues that don't really concern the day-to-day life of a Teamster or Carpenter.

Here in Boston, IBEW local 103 is the only union to go out of their way to announce that they plan to DENY benefits to same-sex couples who are LEGALLY MARRIED.

I have a couple friends in that local and they insist this has nothing to do with the rank and file, just a few bad apples at the top of the stack. I don't know, though...

Also, BTW, when the cop union was picketing at the convention site a couple weeks ago, they (and solidarity picketers) were calling people crossing the line "faggots" a whole lot. Not that I have any sympathy with people who cross the line... Simultaneously the cops physically pushed young, radical people who showed up for to participate in the solidarity picket OUT of the line and let them know their solidarity wasn't welcome.

So don't forget that it cuts both ways, that not all is hunky dory with the "progressive coalition", that some unions are holding social positions to the right of the state. Not everyone is the SEIU.

If you look on the Pride At Work website- quite a few labor unions have passed anti- Federal Marriage Amendment resolutions- from OPEIU to the United Farmworkers Union.

The marriage equality resolution was a great move forward in this arena- and makes me hopeful that the AFL Exec Council will pass a formal anti-FMA resolution at their August meeting.

Also- shameless plug here- you can send a free fax to your senators around FMA by going to http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/fma .
The vote is expected next week.

Thanks

jb