Unions Dominant at DNC, But Losing Clout Elsewhere

Percentage of cars purchased that were built by unionized crews dropping

UAW President Bob King spoke at the Democratic National Convention, extolling the virtues of President Obama and the benefits of the federal auto industry bailout.  Indeed, General Motors alive and Osama bin Laden dead has become the theme of the Obama campaign. 

Since June 2009, the industry has "added a quarter of a million jobs and is thriving once again," King noted. "These are good, middle-class jobs in glass, plastics and steel—jobs making things for an economy built to last."

Many of those jobs were at the U.S. plants for auto companies such as Volkswagen, Kia, Nissan, Toyota and other manufacturers that, for the most part, don't use union employees in their American operations.