It’s not the sexiest political issue, the corruption of political campaigns by unions. Sexy is when the FBI raids Sheng Thao’s home—that gets people’s attention. But the secret, under-the-table exchanges of cash in pay-for-play politics seldom makes the headlines, and for good reason: neither the unions nor the politicians want the public to know.
It’s no secret that unions control politics in Oakland. They always have. Their candidates almost always win. They run this town like mafia chieftains. They tend to support whichever candidate is the most “progressive.” In the upcoming mayoral race, they’re heavily supporting Barbara Lee. The primary unions trying to buy the election are SEIU Local 1021, IFPTE Local 21, and the California Nurses Association, but there are others, such as the Amalgamated Transit Union and the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees. (I’m indebted to Steve Tavares for doing a great job keeping track of these things.)
What do the unions get for their support of Lee (which goes back decades)? We, the public, will never know with any precision, because these meetings occur in secret and their results are never publicized. We can assume several things, though. Since many, perhaps a majority of Oakland direct employees and sub-contractors are unionized, it’s likely that backroom deals are struck concerning getting city contracts, salaries and benefits. It’s not at all clear that if the city contracts with, say, a paving company, the results will be superior if those workers are in a union. In fact, it may even be disadvantageous to contract with unionized companies, because since these contracts are routinely renewed, the unionized company has no incentive to provide superior service, since they know they’re going to get the bid anyway. You can assume, then, that when you see our streets being torn apart—as on Thomas L. Berkley Way, downtown—those are union workers. To me, that is not a shining example of an efficient labor contract: after months of work, the sidewalk remains impassable for two whole blocks in the center of town.
Then there are salaries and benefits. Progressives make a furor over “greedy” landlords getting the rents they’re entitled to, and about “Piedmont billionaires,” but have you ever heard Carroll Fife or Nikki Bas or anyone else complaining about how much it costs to do business with unionized companies? No, and you never will, because all of those politicians suck at the union teat. Of course, given Oakland’s historic budget deficit, some politicians are calling for the city’s deals with the unions to be renegotiated, but it you think that’ll ever happen, there’s a bridge across the Bay I’d like to sell you. Who on the City Council would even introduce such legislation? They’re be primaried next election and whoever their opponent was would be swept into office on union money.
It’s not that I’m anti-union. My mom was a union schoolteacher and I used to be in a union. I recognize the good work unions have historically done for workers. But some time ago, in Oakland at least, the unions stopped representing their members and instead got involved in the “social justice” racket, pushing for race-based outcomes for minorities. Today, Oakland unions are on the cutting edge of wokeness, which means they bear responsibility for our city’s demise.
There’s something deeply problematic about the unions having such political power. Conflicts of interest are built into the system. Unions never have the interests of greater Oakland at heart, they have their own interests. Unelected by the public, a force with no guardrails, unions are antithetical to the Founder’s vision of a free, democratic society. Unions amount to little more than secretive cabals run by secretive manipulators furthering their own interests. What Oakland must do is to hire an independent team of arbiters to hold hearings into precisely what is the chokehold unions have, and how we can undo it. This team would have to be independent because they City Council is wholly owned and controlled by the unions and thus would be unable to be impartial. I guarantee you that, if we could free Oakland from the grip of these nefarious unions, we’d become a better, cleaner, freer city.
Steve Heimoff