Election About Jobs, Not Republican Mandate

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

Tuesday's election "was about jobs, plain and simple," AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said yesterday. "It was a mandate to fix the economy and create jobs." But the election wasn't a mandate for the policies most Republicans campaigned on, Trumka said, pointing to an election night survey of voters in 100 swing congressional district that showed support for many of the economic proposals the AFL-CIO and most Democrats have called for, including investing in job creation and help for the unemployed. Trumka also cited the well-documented flood of corporate money as a major influence in the election, with 74.2 percent of all money spent in the elections  spent by corporations. In 2009 alone, the top three business industries-the health care and pharmaceutical industry, business associations like the Chamber of Commerce, and the oil and gas industry, spent $626 million dollars on lobbying to defeat and distort President Obama's agenda. Organized labor will analyze and revamp its political program "significantly" to see "what worked and what didn't" after the landslide loss of the U.S. House Tuesday,  Trumka added. - Mike Hall, AFL-CIO Now; click here for the complete report