The GOP has already filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission. After this year is over, we want workers to make sure their politicians are living up to their promises, that they're holding their feet to the fire. If they say they're going to vote for the minimum wage, we want to see that that vote comes through. We're trying to get people more active in government. The federation has also indicated, delicately, that part of its aim is to scoot the Democrats to the left.
Some progressive unionists are skeptical.
That would require a total leadership change of heart. I just don't see it happening. Chris Townsend, political director of the small, independent United Electrical workers union, predicts that the AFL-CIO will become, maybe even more than before, an unofficial field operation for the Democratic Party, with few questions asked. But a lot of these guys are pretty awful. Because there's no vision, no program.