By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services/Arizona Daily Star
Don’t look for the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry to give up this coming year on its perennial bid to limit how union dues can be used to affect politics.
Glenn Hamer, the organization’s president, said he continues to believe that the money union members are forced to pay should be limited to collective bargaining goals, not trying to defeat candidates who just happen to be backed by business interests and their money.
At the same time, Rebekah Friend, executive director of the state AFL-CIO, will continue to work — successfully so far — to get federal judges to overturn what Hamer and allies manage to push through the Republican-controlled Legislature.
But business and union interests have found some common ground to actually work together in the coming months. They both want the U.S. House of Representatives to approve the comprehensive immigration reform package that has cleared the Senate.