Last post on this today I promise. This is new information and California specific. Courtesy of Jane Hamsher of Fire Dog Lake I have this quote from Anastasia Ordonez at the California Labor Federation. Jane called them to inquire about the status of Chris Lehane's contract with the Fed on health care and passed it off to me, given the California angle.
He's been a close labor ally for many years, so we're looking into this but I'm not going to comment on what our relationship will be in the future.
Ordonez stated that their contract with Chris Lehane was terminated around Thanksgiving, because they were not sure what they were going to do with regards to health care. That makes sense, since the health care negotiations were ongoing, rather than completely falling apart and there was not a huge need to have a guy like Lehane around.
The California Labor Federation maintains a blacklist of contractors for situations like this one, where someone goes to work directly against the labor movement. They can only add someone to that blacklist if a Local requests it. WGA is not a member, therefore they cannot make that request.
SEIU has been much closer to the WGA than the members of the Labor Fed and AFL-CIO, thus it is not that surprising to see them moving more slowly than Change to Win and SEIU.
Here is a brief overview of the Fed via their website.
The California Labor Federation is the state AFL-CIO, with more than 1,200 affiliated local unions, representing 2.1 million union members in diverse communities and sectors of the state's economy. Manufacturing, service, retail, construction, public sector and private industry unions join together in the Federation to protect and advance the rights and interests of all California workers.
Having the Fed put Lehane on the blacklist would obviously be a pretty big deal. If they do, I will be sure to blog it up. |
