Unions’ political donations falling as their power fades

The Boston Globe reports:

As once-powerful organized labor­ loses members and influence, unions have become more ­focused on organizing workers and protecting their rights than on funneling money to politicians.

Donations to Democratic candidates and committees by labor political action committees were down more than 20 percent from January 2011 to June 2012, compared with the same period leading up to the 2008 election, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan research group in Washington.

That decline is just one sign that the political clout of unions is waning just when they need it the most, labor specialists say. The past year has seen antiunion politicians triumph, labor laws get weaker, and public opinion of unions sour, making it unlikely that organized labor will have a big impact on the fall elections.

“This is in many ways the last gasp of the labor movement politically,” said Gary Chaison, a professor of industrial relations at Clark University in Worcester. “The irony is that they need a victory by the White House and the Democrats to rebound, but on the other hand, because they’re so slim on resources and energies, and their public image is so tarnished, they’re limited in what they can do.”

Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch.