The Ad Industry Has Lots Of Laborers, But No Unions

From the perspective or organized labor, this year’s Democratic Convention in Charlotte is something of a bust.

After pumping $8.5 million into the 2008 Democratic convention, unions decided against funding this year’s convention because North Carolina is the most hostile state in the union to the very idea of, and practices of organized labor, as evidenced by the lowest unionization rate in America at 2.9 percent.

Be that as it may, the North Carolina chapter of the AFL-CIO is using the convention to reinvent itself (in a somewhat humorous manner).

According to Mother Jones, the union conducted an event called “Hug-a-Thug” on Monday, where AFL-CIO members dished out hugs aplenty to friendly passersby amid the hubbub of the CarolinaFest street fair.

Several other unions hosted booths at CarolinaFest, chatting up the crowd and handing out pamphlets, stickers, and more. I wonder if any of the stickers said, “You Can Thank Unions for The Weekend.”