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Political clout of unions on the rise?

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  • Description

    Is political spending up despite declining membership?

  • Duration 2:35
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This transcript is automatically generated

Fell 29.

It is a fact that union membership is decreasing but that does not mean that labor's political influences on Hawaiian.

-- -- -- correspondent James Rosen tells us the opposite appears to be true.

After months of research the Wall Street Journal has dramatically revised its estimate for how much -- labor has spent on political activity over the last seven years the journal now places the figure not at one point one billion the number usually cited based on filings with the Federal Election Commission.

But four point four billion.

A figure reached after examination of additional documents known as -- in -- but the unions have been required to file since 2005 with the Department of Labor.

We've always known that now the -- joke story has documented more.

-- that really the power of unions.

Has been in their ability to mobilize their members.

Either to get him out to vote to volunteering -- -- -- I think it's a controversy within the labor movement.

How much emphasis they should be placing our politics how much emphasis they should be paid placing on.

My workplace issues in and and membership issues more generally I.

Indeed after they're stinging defeat in Wisconsin's recall election the rank and file may fairly wonder what they've gotten for their money.

Big labor prevailed in Ohio's ballot battle last year overturning a law that limited collective bargaining rights but the movement has been stymied in its push for card check legislation.

And union membership both for the private sector workforce and as a whole has declined since 2005.

And I think that in some ways they're looking to attain political influence.

And they're looking to find ways to grow the size of the union to get new members.

In ways that frankly form their existing membership or their existing pension beneficiaries.

The major unions declined to comment publicly but privately called the journal story a hit piece with a crazy premise saying it's not news that labor has sought to advance its agenda in ways that wouldn't show up on FEC forms they also note that corporate political spending and lobbying.

Dwarfs that of the unions.

Lobbying expenditures by companies by trade associations.

Meant more than ten times more than unions typically and over and over a long period of time.

Verifying the journal's new figure would involve retracing their exact methodology and making inevitably subjective judgment calls about categories of spending and the like so.

What the average voter may safely conclude is the 2012 cycle intensifies.

Is that both sides of every major policy dispute seemed to have access to huge sums of money to get their messages out -- that is true James thank you.

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