ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors present new evidence to update labor’s political scorecard on the electoral and lobbying fronts. To understand organized labor’s record, they calculate a current political scorecard by examining several dimensions of union political efforts. First, the authors examine aggregate patterns in union electoral and lobbying spending. Second, they compare labor’s political involvement to other groups’ participation. Third, the authors examine recent evidence on the voting behavior of union members. Fourth, they present labor’s legislative record based on congressional votes used by the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations to rate lawmakers. Organized labor’s ability to raise working and living standards, promote social and economic justice, and expand political democracy depends on its relative presence and strength in the workforce. It is impossible for organized labor to “buy” legislative support from Congress. The good news for organized labor is that it has evidently had some success in offsetting the membership decline by increasing turnout.
