Unions stay Neutral in Senate Fight

The New York State Senate will decide on Wednesday who their leader will be. We don't know who the Majority Leader will be until the vote, but what we do know is that neither side will be getting any help from the unions.

While the Democrats technically won a majority of the seats in November, the so called "Gang of Three" Democrats, Senator Pedro Espada, Jr, Carl Kruger, and Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr. have threatened to side with the Republicans after some very public disputes over gay marriage and general disagreements with the Senate Minority Leader Malcolm "You should get in early because then it doesn't cost as much. The longer you wait to get in, the more it will cost you and if you don't get in at all, then it will be painful after November" Smith.

With obnoxious comments like that from Smith, it is easy to see why the gang of three has a problem with Smith. At the time, everyone seemed to give Smith a pass on his comments, but after the problem that the Governor in Illinois has had, one can only wonder in retrospect if Smith should have been given a free pass for those comments.

It's too late to investigate his comments now, but it's not to late to make sure that Smith is NOT elected Majority Leader of the Senate.

Elizabeth Benjamin, NY Daily News

AFL-CIO Stays Neutral In Senate Fight

January 5, 2009

The AFL-CIO is staying out of the state Senate leadership battle and will work with "whomever ends up running" the chamber, according to Mario Cilento, spokesman for the 2.5 million-member umbrella labor organization.

"The AFL has said from the very beginning that we would never get involved in the internal politics of the Senate," Cilento said.

Republican Leader Dean Skelos had been hoping to set up a meeting or conference call today with leaders of the erstwhile majority's longstanding organized labor allies, including the AFL-CIO and 1199 SEIU, and the Gang of Three in hopes of convincing the renegade trio to side with him against Democratic Leader Malcolm Smith.

But Cilento insisted AFL-CIO President Denis Hughes had not been asked to participate in that effort, although he did confirm that Skelos had called the union big to inquire whether members of the Gang of Three would be penalized if they turned their backs on the Democratic Party when it comes time for 2010 endorsements.

The response?

"The answer was 'No,'" Cilento said. "Our endorsements are made based solely on members' voting records."

As you'll recall, the AFL-CIO delayed its endorsements in the fall elections due to its upset over legislators' support of a property tax cap, which was vehemently opposed by a number of labor unions.

After that brief upset, the AFL-CIO relented and awarded its support to a number of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. All of its endorsements went to incumbents, which means it sided with the GOP in key contested Senate races.

Two members of the Gang of Three - Sen. Carl Kruger and Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr. - ran with AFL-CIO support.

The third, Sen. Pedro Espada Jr., did not. In fact, the AFL-CIO endorsed the incumbent Democrat Espada successfully sought to unseat in the September primary, ex-Sen. Efrain Gonzalez, and declined to endorse Espada in the general election.

The Senate Democrats are getting some help in the leadership fight from their own labor allies, including the Working Families Party, 32BJ, RWDSU, the Hotel Trades Council, and the CWA, along with others with a vested interest in seeing the Senate pushed into Democratic hands for the first time since 1962 such as the Empire State Pride Agenda.

The outcome of the Senate battle will be interesting for the labor community, as it has clearly already split unions into Democrat and GOP camps.

A number of labor heavyweights - even 1199, which was long allied to the Republicans while they were led by ex-Majority Leader Joe Bruno - have been hedging their bets with campaign contributions for some time. But the public employees unions have largely remained loyal to the GOP, which could prove troublesome at a time when Gov. David Paterson is calling for them to re-open their contracts and forgo raises.