Political giving by labor unions depressed in 2011

By Kim Dixon/Reuters

Members of labor unions are guarding their pocketbooks this election season, according to a new analysis, which may hurt Democrats in Congress in the 2012 elections.

Union political action committees donated just under $15 million to federal candidates in the first three quarters of this year, down 26 percent from $20.4 million for the same period four years ago, according to an analysis of union giving compiled for Reuters by the Center for Responsive Politics.

The trend is bad news for the party as it fights next year to re-elect President Barack Obama, keep its majority in the U.S. Senate and make gains in the House of Representatives.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/08/us-usa-campaign-unions-idUSTRE7A77Q620111108

Tagged as: AFL-CIO, Big Labor, Democrats, President Obama, union political spending