ECONOMY MOTIVATES LABOR MOBILIZATION

Friday, November 7, 2008

(PAI)ECONOMY MOTIVATES LABOR MOBILIZATION
By Mark Gruenberg
PAI Staff Writer

            ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (PAI)--The recent U.S. financial crash cost Rachelle Pablo further work in her hometown of Albuquerque--and sent her out on the campaign trail. Unfair trade treaties may cost Shane Hurley and his Cooper Tire Co. colleagues in Findlay, Ohio, their jobs next year. So he went out on the hustings, too.

            Pablo, a member of Sheet Metal Workers Local 49, and Hurley, of the Steel Workers, are two of the more than 250,000 union activists who spent the 2008 campaign contacting fellow unionists, making 76 million phone calls, talking with friends and neighbors, and leafleting worksites on behalf of pro-worker candidates--from Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama on down.

            Pablo and Hurley, both military veterans, were motivated by economic troubles they and the country face, they told a Nov. 5 AFL-CIO press conference in D.C. on unions’ political efforts. Including its member unions, the labor federation spent an estimated $250 million on get-out-the-vote and voter protection efforts.

            In an interview afterwards, Hurley said she was employed by Miller Bonded, Inc., an Albuquerque fabrication shop. But it “had to RIF (reduction in force) us because a lot of its (construction) contracts were put on hold because of Wall Street.” She calls her unemployment “the result of bad management” in the nation’s financial sector.

            That sent her out on the campaign trail for Obama and for Democratic U.S. Senate and House candidates in New Mexico, a swing state, because the three hopefuls--all seeking open seats--would help her and her colleagues. All three won.

            Pablo said the reactions she got varied. Some voters were very welcoming. Others were undecided and listened to her talk about the economy and took the literature she offered. And the Republicans “saw my union T-shirt and Obama button and slammed the door in my face.”

            But she felt she had to go out and campaign “to show the union movement has a variety of people in it,” just like the country.

            Handley said that “last week, we found that our employer is going to close one of our four plants in the U.S.” Cooper Tire, where he works, already has plants in China and Mexico, Handley added. That raises the chance it could shift U.S. production there.

            That specter started Handley political campaigning in March, phone banking and contacting fellow workers and their families, especially about trade. “A lots of folks
thought working people would vote for John McCain,” Obama’s GOP foe, Handley said. After labor’s efforts in the swing state of Ohio--along with other swing states such as Minnesota, Indiana, Michigan and New Mexico--“that didn’t happen,” Handley added.

            AFL-CIO post-election exit polling backed their observations. In the swing states, unionists made 25-35 contacts per voter. And pollster Guy Molyneux reported that union and union-family voters in swing states backed Obama by a 69%-28% margin.

            Pablo and Handley were among the droves of unionists in a record mobilization for the campaign. Other union activism--and this is not a complete list--included:

            * Change to Win chair Anna Burger said her 7-union 6-million-member group’s members were “volunteering countless hours, knocking on millions of doors, making millions of phone calls, and visiting worksites across the nation.” She also vowed that “our efforts don’t end tonight, they simply begin. We will continue to educate and mobilize our members to hold every politician accountable for the promises they made to the working people of this nation who made their voices heard and changed history.”

            * The Steel Workers had more than 500 people working full-time in 31 states, mobilizing members and working families. More than 11,000 Steel Workers volunteered their time for Obama. Strategy included calling and speaking to more than 100,000 union members in key battleground states between Labor Day and the election, plus 5 million pieces of literature. "When you feel the brunt of the downturn in the economy and wake up wondering if your job is being shipped overseas or whether you can still afford health care, you work like hell for change,” union President Leo Gerard said.

            * UFCW focused on both traditional battleground states and on expanding the electoral map into other key states, including Virginia and Colorado, where UFCW members turned out in record numbers to change the direction of our country,” the union said.   “What inspired me was Obama’s position on affordable education and health care,” added Local 400 member Teresa Ransone, a Kroger cake decorator in Roanoke, Va. Obama carried Virginia, helped by heavy turnout in Roanoke.

            “We just had to keep on working and taking the message to people every day,” Ransone told a Nov. 6 press conference in D.C.

            UFCW Local 1776 member Samantha Mishkevich, 22, told that same press conference she went out on the campaign trail not just for herself but for her 70-year-old grandmother, who lives with her--and who pays more than one-third of her income for health care. “And I was uninsured until nine months ago,” she added.

            “This is the end of an existence as we knew it and the beginning of a better one.”

            * The Teamsters had more than 40,000 volunteers, led by union President James Hoffa and Secretary-Treasurer Tom Keegel. Both hit battlegrounds--including Keegel’s home, Minnesota--talking to Teamster members for Obama. The union also sent more than 2.6 million direct mail pieces, made more than 1.6 million phone calls,
visited more than 1 million job sites, knocked on 4.5 million doors and signed 54,687 of their members up for election text-messaging. IBT had hundreds of volunteers in Ohio.

            * The Communications Workers focused focusing on worksite contacts and one-on-one, member-to-member conversations, supplemented by phone banking, labor walks, mailings and other actions throughout the battleground states. Its 10,000 volunteers, led by union President Larry Cohen, were part of a four-union alliance--with the Steel Workers, Auto Workers and IFPTE--that concentrated on seven states: Virginia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Minnesota, Louisiana, Mississippi and Kentucky.

            CWA, the largest union in Virginia--one of the nation’s least-unionized states--mobilized 800 volunteers for daily labor walks throughout the state, made thousands of phone calls and distributed leaflets at hundreds of worksites. Obama became the first Democratic presidential nominee to carry Virginia in 44 years.

            * The Laborers contacted 110,000 fellow members, helped more than 15,000 members register to vote and enlisted 20,000 volunteers for Obama through the union’s “Make a Call to Build America” phone bank. They also sent out 2 million pieces of literature, hand-delivered a half-million informational flyers to members on jobsites and directed other members to the union’s election website. Thousands of Laborers-provided rides for voters to the polls helped Obama carry swing state Florida.

            "In my nine years, I have never been prouder of our organization," said Laborers
President Terry O’Sullivan. "We said this was the election of a lifetime--and members and leaders across this country stepped up to the plate and hit the ball out of the park. Because of the tireless and selfless, day-in and day-out work of so many members and leaders, we built an army that will help change our country. In the Obama White House, there will be an open door for the men and women who build our country."

            * AFSCME had ground operations in 20 states, with more than 500 professional staff, and 40,000 members and retirees knocking on doors, making calls and contacting co-workers and neighbors, said union President Gerald McEntee. It also spent $67 million on politics, notably in “the most competitive House and Senate races,” he added. “What moved people? The issues, and talking to workers one by one,” he said.

            * SEIU made a particular effort in the swing state of Indiana, which Obama carried--the first Democrat to do so since 1964. SEIU’s hundreds of volunteers knocked on 64,000 doors and made 185,000 phone calls, Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger said.
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