Union dumps AFL-CIO for its positions on ObamaCare, immigration reform
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}FILE: June 28, 2012: Supporters of President Barack Obama's health care law celebrate outside the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. (AP)
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union has cut ties with the AFL-CIO, citing in part the private-sector union’s support for ObamaCare and immigration reform.
In an August 29 letter to AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, leaders of the 40,000-member union said they have become “increasingly frustrated” with the federation’s policy positions on such matters as immigration and health care reform.
“We feel the federation has done a great disservice to the labor movement and all working people,” wrote Robert McEllrath, president of the San Francisco-based ILWU.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}McEllrath said his union supports the single-payer, nationalized healthcare policy while the AFL-CIO backs Obama’s tax on its so-called "Cadillac" healthcare plan, according to Breitbart.com, which first reported the story.
"President Obama ran on a platform that he would not tax medical plans and at the 2009 AFL-CIO Convention, you stated that labor would not stand for a tax on our benefits," the letter states.
The letter also states both groups have historically supported comprehensive immigration reform with a clear path to citizenship and protecting undocumented workers from deportation and being fired.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“However, the immigration bill you recently asked us to support imposes extremely long waiting periods on the path to citizenship … .” the letter states.
The group acknowledges its short and rocky relationship with the CIO, getting kicked out for being “too red” during the anti-labor, McCarthy era and rejoining as late as 1998, after the AFL-CIO merger.
In the letter, McEllrath also thanked the AFL-CIO for help in a 2002 labor-contract negotiation.