union

SEIU is continuing it's series of inviting the presidential contenders to spend a day alongside one of their members from the beginning of their day at home through their workday. Edwards was the first one up, now Richardson takes his turn.

Richardson was in Las Vegas with Mark Fitzgerald, a health care social worker and single foster parent. Here is the video diary of his experience.

You can learn more at Walk a Day in My Shoes. There is also an interview two SEIU members did with Richardson on the current health care crisis.

Hillary continues to be dogged by her advisor's ties to anti-worker campaigns. Ari Berman has an update to the story I blogged about earlier this week. The heads of the AFL-CIO and SEIU have joined their counterparts from the Teamsters and UNITE-HERE in discussing Mark Penn's PR firm's campaign to blog union organizing drives directly with Hillary's campaign.

In response, Penn told Marc Ambinder that he will "he will cede all oversight responsibilities for his company's labor relations clients to other managers." But...

A few weeks back Penn told The Nation that he had "never personally participated in any antiunion activity." He said today, via email, that he is "sending a clear message that I have no role in this and as a matter of conscience will not."

Penn's statements raise the question: how does one recuse themselves from work they claim not to be doing?

Good question. Even recusing himself does not go far enough.

Yet some labor officials hoped Penn would go much further, taking steps toward terminating B-M's "labor relations" division or at least ending the contract with Cintas. Neither will occur, nor is Penn taking a formal leave of absence from the company. He's also not distancing himself from the money the "labor relations" wing brings in and the other controversial clients B-M represents in the defense, pharmaceutical and energy industries and the Republican lobbyists he oversees.

Penn's "recusal" must thus be seen as a classic case of PR spin; a phony gesture that fails to address the underlying problems or the reasons prominent labor leaders are upset with Clinton's campaign.

Mark Penn continues to benefit directly from union busting campaigns. He is still one of Hillary's closest advisors. Penn has never repudiated the behavior of his firm, nor taken steps to halt their anti-labor activities. This story is not going away any time soon.

One of Hillary Clinton's closest strategists is a guy named Mark Penn. Penn is a big pumbah at a huge PR firm, Burson-Marsteller, that offers union busting services. They are part of the large industry of firms who run anti-organizing campaigns. Their current client is Cintas, who has successfully blocked efforts to unionize their nearly 20,00 garment workers and truck drivers. Ari Berman at The Nation disclosed all of this a few weeks ago.

The Teamsters and UNITE-HERE have written a letter to Clinton, noting their "distress" about Penn's ties to "anti-union/anti-worker campaigns". The letter is the subject of a NYT article today.

In interviews, Mr. Hoffa and Mr. Raynor stopped short of calling on Mrs. Clinton to disassociate herself from Mr. Penn.

Mr. Raynor said, “She ought to send a clear message to this guy Penn that she is unhappy about this union-busting stuff and that he shouldn’t be associated with it.”

Mr. Penn, speaking for himself and for the Clinton presidential campaign, said: “Senator Clinton’s well-documented support for pro-union causes would not in any way be affected by some clients in a firm related to the corporate network of one of her advisers. There is no connection whatsoever with her pro-union record.”

It was not exactly the most strongly worded letter to Clinton, but it is having its intended effect. Ari has the full letter up and says today:

A labor official told me that he expects Hillary to sit down with the two union heads and "placate us a little bit. But I don't think she'll cut Penn lose. He's her Rove."

Penn may eventually be forced take a formal leave of absence from Burson-Marsteller, a step he has thus far resisted. That might erase the political liability Penn has become for Hillary's campaign, but it hardly diminishes the underlying implications of his presence as her top strategist, the anti-union work Burson-Marsteller continues to do and the likelihood that if Hillary is elected Penn and his clients will greatly benefit, further blurring the distinction between the corporate and political world.

Perhaps in their private meeting Raynor and Hoffa will ask Senator Clinton why she elevated someone like Penn in the first place and chose to ignore his anti-labor ties.