It will be interesting to see the analysis of labor’s political operation in the 2006 election. A flurry of emails has been making the rounds, highlighting the mobilization of union members in the key races. A press release from the AFL-CIO asserted that, “High turnout among union members turned a win into a sweep with 74 percent of union voters supporting union-endorsed candidates in the House and 76 percent supporting Democratic candidates in Senate races – – a whopping 50 point margin for working family candidates. Non-union voters supported the Democratic House candidates by a two-point margin. Union households accounted for roughly 1 out of 4 voters.”

I’m not sure that the 25 percent number is significantly higher as a percentage but it is entirely possible that, given the closeness of House and Senate races in places like Ohio and Connecticut, the union vote made a difference.

So, where does that lead? Today’s New York Times has a piece by Steve Greenhouse about labor’s efforts–and what the labor movement can expect from the Democratic Congress. To me, the most interesting part of the article is this:

Even with Democrats back in power, organized labor faces serious hurdles. Republicans and even some Democrats are uncomfortable with labor’s demand to deny the Bush administration trade promotion authority, which makes it easier to negotiate trade pacts because Congress would be barred from amending them.

In the Senate, Republicans are likely to use the filibuster to block one of labor’s most coveted pieces of legislation, a bill that would in many ways make it easier for unions to organize workers. The bill would, among other things, greatly increase penalties for companies that illegally fire workers to undermine unionization drives. Labor sees the bill, which is co-sponsored by more than 90 percent of House Democrats, as pivotal for reversing labor’s decline.

I’ve pointed out for a long time that, even with a Democratic Congress, serious labor reform is not likely to happen partly because of the resistance from some Democrats and partly because of the immovable obstacle of the Senate filibuster, which requires 60 votes to pass something like the Employee Free Choice Act. That is not likely to happen anytime soon.