In what is being reported as a surprise move, the 40,000 members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) announced that they have formally ended their association with the AFL-CIO, one of the nation\u2019s largest private sector unions. The Longshoremen citied Obamacare and immigration reform as two important causes of their disaffiliation.<\/p>\n
In an August 29 letter to AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, ILWU President Robert McEllrath cited quite a list of grievances as reasons for the dissolution of their affiliation, but prominent among them was the AFL-CIO\u2019s support of Obamare.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe feel the Federation has done a great disservice to the labor movement and all working people by going along to get along,\u201d McEllrath wrote in the letter to Trumka.<\/p>\n
The ILWU President made it clear they are for a single-payer, nationalized healthcare policy and are upset with the AFL-CIO for going along with Obama on the confiscatory tax on their \u201cCadillac\u201d healthcare plan.<\/p>\n
The Longshoreman leader said, \u201cPresident 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.\u201d But, regardless of that promise, the President has pushed for just such a tax and Trumka and the AFL-CIO bowed to political pressure lining up behind Obama\u2019s tax on those plans.<\/p>\n
McEllrath also went on to say that they support stronger immigration reform than the AFL-CIO is supporting.<\/p>\n