Nice soft drink company you’ve got, wouldn’t want anything to happen to it

Was having a “discussion” on Twitter with two of New Mexico’s leading union officials. Both men strongly support Mayor Javier Gonzales’ plans to impose a 2 cent/ounce tax on sugary drinks sold in “The City Different.”

In doing some research on the issue I noticed that the Teamsters Union in Philadelphia was among the leading OPPONENTS of that City’s 1.5 cent/ounce tax on soda and sugary drinks. The following Tweets outline the exchange with Jon Hendry, head of the New Mexico Federation of Labor, AFL/CiO:

So, as I gather from Hendry’s comments, if Santa Fe’s bottler were unionized, his position might be the exact opposite of what he holds now. It would indeed be interesting if Santa Fe’s Coke distributor were unionized. Perhaps Mayor Gonzales wouldn’t even be undertaking this plan against a political ally?

There are all kinds of alternative scenarios, but the fact is that the unions have real political muscle and the way those muscles are used is less about political principle and ideology than it is about grasping self-interest. Easy for us think tank folk to lose sight of.