Happy Labor Day

And indeed, Labor is in the news:

In what is being reported as a surprise move, the 40,000 members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) announced that they have formally ended their association with the AFL-CIO, one of the nation's largest private sector unions. The Longshoremen citied Obamacare and immigration reform as two important causes of their disaffiliation.

In an August 29 letter to AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, ILWU President Robert McEllrath cited quite a list of grievances as reasons for the disillusion of their affiliation, but prominent among them was the AFL-CIO's support of Obamare.

"We feel the Federation has done a great disservice to the labor movement and all working people by going along to get along," McEllrath wrote in the letter to Trumka.

This is huge. Might we see more exceptions from Obama-Care àla Congressional type subsidies? And what will the administration's reaction to the ILWU's stance on immigration reform? Will there be a Chicago Solution? For the most part, longshoremen do not react graciously to strong arm tactics. This could get interesting.