Ever since Blanche Lincoln forced Bill Halter’s rout on Tuesday, I’ve wanted to hear what newly-elected, baby-out-with-the-bathwater, SEIU President Mary Kay Henry had to say. I was not disappointed. From Politico:
“SEIU President Mary Kay Henry, who last month replaced Obama ally Andy Stern, shrugged off the suggestion that the movement lost prestige by throwing so much money at a losing candidate in such a high-profile race.
“We’d do it again in a heartbeat,” she told POLITICO. “This isn’t about the White House, and it isn’t about us. This race was about working people all around this country who’ve lost jobs or watched their paychecks shrink.” On Thursday, in another assertion of independence from the Obama-led Democratic establishment, the SEIU plans to deliver 30,000 signatures on behalf of an independent challenger to Kissell, a freshman who voted against health care reform.
Shrinking paychecks? As a reminder, not all paychecks are created equal. Perhaps that is why the SEIU has their purple eyes set on the public sector?
According to new numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, “[t]otal employer compensation costs for private industry workers averaged $27.73 per hour worked in March 2010. Total employer compensation costs for State and local government workers averaged $39.81 per hour worked in March 2010.”
