# Are Unions controlled by organized crime? Does that hamper their ability to affect politics in the US?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-unions-controlled-by-organized-crime-does-that-hamper-their-ability-to-affect-politics-in-the-us/974832>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [November 13, 2022, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-unions-controlled-by-organized-crime-does-that-hamper-their-ability-to-affect-politics-in-the-us/974832 "2022-11-13T04:13:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 44

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**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2022, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-unions-controlled-by-organized-crime-does-that-hamper-their-ability-to-affect-politics-in-the-us/974832/44 "2022-11-13T19:50:07Z")

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> [@Whack-a-Mole](#):
>
> Are unions mobbed up today? Maybe not but because they have been stripped of so much power there is no profit for them that is worth the effort.

Then you agree that the answer to your question is “no”. You’ve learned that and more because many people were polite enough to give a reason supporting that answer.

In fact, you were given that answer in the other thread.

> [@US Midterm Election watch along thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-midterm-election-watch-along-thread/974619/904):
>
> The Democrats used to have the superior ground game. It was spearheaded by the unions. Anti-unionism since the Reagan era has worked wonders.

@Acsenray also thoughtfully expanded on that post here in post #6, whose completeness made the rest of the thread redundant.

As for the lobbying aspects, OpenSecrets reports that total [federal lobbying](https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying) ran about $3.8 billion in 2021. Of that $66 million was from the [U.S. Chamber of Commerce](https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/clients/summary?cycle=2021&id=D000019798). No question that’s a significant sum of money, but it’s less that 2% of the total. You need to look at the overall split in [lobbying between business and other groups](https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/business-labor-ideological). Business is a proton to labor’s electron. Why? They have all the money. The mob at its very biggest in history controlled less money than any individual major bank or corporation. Their power has always been muscle. The muscle economy is long gone.

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