Illinois, the home of John Deere and Caterpillar, is one of the great export economies in the United States. Literally tens of thousands of UAW jobs are dependent upon exports from Illinois factories to overseas markets.
So when our Illinois Democratic Congressional delegation claims to be pro-union, I suggest we examine their voting record on one of the most important trade pacts to come before Congress this session.
A free-trade pact with Colombia, a major player in mining industries (and a huge consumer of Illinois Heavy Equipment) was just voted down by a 224–195 margin in the House.
9 Illnois Democrats voted against the deal. Only 1 Democrat, Melissa Bean, voted for it (Bobby Rush was not voting).
So Bill Foster, Jesse Jackson Jr., Rahm Emmanuel, Dan Lipinski, Danny Davis, Jerry Costello, Jan Schakowsky, and Phil Hare…you just voted against Illinois Union Members, Illinois Employers, Illinois Retirees and Illinois Investors, so that you claim what? That you are pro-union?
Encouragingly, all Illinois House Republican voted for the trade pact. Perhaps the Republican party should rightly be called the pro-union party in Illinois.
Read More of Democrats Vote Against Illinois Workers off-site...
Mike says:
I think you forgot a step in your argument. You don't at all indicate how voting against the trade bill is bad for unions, except that, currently, Illinos exports machinery to places like Columbia.
You can't just claim out of thin air that voting against some bill is bad for a long list of constituencies.
If the trade deal is good for unions, why are so many unions against it? I'll tell you. Regardless of how many jobs here are dependent on foreign exports, those jobs can more easily be shipped out of Illinois, and out of the United States. Places like Columbia will still need Deere and Caterpillar machines, but the more free trade agreements we sign, and the more other nations can undercut labor costs for production, Columbia is going to get those parts from somewhere else.
Signing these trade pacts to preserve export economies is like taking a one-hundred dollar bill, but having to pay back ten thousand five years from now. We have to keep thinking long term.