Union Members Respond to Sarah Palin's Plea

In the comment sections where her plea was posted, that is...

I'm sure you will be hard pressed to find many union members who will go on record stating this sentiment, given the environment they find themselves in these days. However, the internet is a place many find able to speak their mind without fear of retribution.

Scanning through the comment sections of both Governor Palin's Facebook page, and certain articles on this topic, I saw some comments that I found interesting. They had been left by union members who viewed Governor Palin's statement as factual and words they obviously identified with. I wanted to share some of them but I have omitted their names because they are not public figures (emphasis mine).

• As a proud current card-carrying IBEW member for seven years I was just discussing this very topic with my Dad (another IBEW member) earlier this evening. I am very upset and deeply concerned about Obama and what his liberal/socialist cron...ies are doing to our country. What angers me further is that the leaders back at the AFL-CIO continue to back these morons as they run for office. [...] I work hard for my paychecks and I don't wish in any way to discredit the values that unions are SUPPOSED to stand for. I owe the IBEW my current middle-class standing and without the training and bargaining strength of my union I would not be able to support my wife and children as my father did. Keep it up Sarah, there are many union members out there that share my sentiments.

• Go Sarah I've Been a union member most of my life construction labor ,uswa and teamsters plus 3yrs. USMC.I'm 72 now and I back you 100%

• Took me 24 years of union membership to finally realize where the union bosses real loyalties were. I withdrew last November after the thuggery that supported shoving national healthcare down our throats. I'm with you 100% Sarah! To my union brothers and sisters: Those that say they represent you are not your friends.... they view you as nothing more than a paycheck. Stand with us and help us take our country back!

• I am a member of a local trade union. We are not the problem with the country. Trade Unions are not SEIU and do not like being lumped together with them. Many of us are quite conservative and fewer and fewer of my local brothers and sisters that I talk to are supporting Obama and his agenda. Historically the Republicans have not supported labor and have driven us away. There does need to be some kind of balance between business and its workers. That being said, I have never gotten a job from a poor person, so I don’t hate the rich. I have not voted Democrat in years and I can assure all that the bunch in the White House now has me in every bit the uproar that all of you are.

• The FB post by Ms. Palin is so close to the hearts of many union workers. [...] Members as "mere followers" while the "union leaders" acting as "the boss". The end is always the same. Union leaders become as "rich" as the devil while the members remain "poor" and needy. This is true in my family's case. I am a liberal democrat but beginning to see the beauty and wisdom that is Sarah Palin. I'm almost there!

I'm not pretending that there has been some massive sea-shift in regards to union political support over one Facebook posting. I live in a state run by SEIU (thank you Jerry Brown) so I understand very well how unions operate. That said, I also understand that most union members are not left-wing radicals, which is what one pretty much has to be these days to agree with the current direction of the country. I do find these comments encouraging, however, and I hope that Governor Palin's plea sparks a conversation within the union rank-and- file.

I think Governor Palin was both bold and wise to answer attacks from AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka, in this manner. Not only did she expose him for the "thug" that he is, she also made his members think twice about about what it is their leaders are doing for them. I cannot recall any other national republican since Reagan, who attempted to go around the union leadership and talk directly to union members themselves. Given the antics, and the practices of union leaders, I know there are many more members who will identify with the sentiment in the Governor's statement to them.