That program, presented Wednesday to the AFL-CIO Executive Council meeting in San Diego, was outlined to reporters by the federation\'s Political Committee Chair, AFSCME President Gerald McEntee, and Political Director Karen Ackerman.
Ackerman said the political plan includes up to 10 U.S. Senate races so far, including previously unlikely campaigns against incumbent Republicans in Mississippi (Roger Wicker), Alaska (Ted Stevens) and Kentucky (minority leader Mitch McConnell).
It also will include, as of now, 55 U.S. House races, three governorships, hundreds of state legislative races and dozens of referendums. McEntee says it will also include combating the Radical Right\'s so-called right-to-work initiatives and "paycheck deception," designed to evict workers from participating financially in politics.
While the outlines of the AFL-CIO program are known, many details are still to be determined. The number and location of races may change. And the fed has no estimate on how many volunteers it can recruit or a target for unionist turnout. Another, of course, is what the fed will do in the presidential race.
One thing it is not likely to do is endorse either Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) or Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) for the Democratic presidential nomination before either has gained a majority of delegates or before the party convention in Denver in August.
McEntee reiterated that\'s because a candidate needs votes of unions representing two-thirds of the federation\'s 10 million members for the AFL-CIO nod. Clinton, with 12 union endorsements to Obama\'s five--his latest was the International Longshore and Warehouse Union on Feb. 29-- has "52% to 54% of members," he added. Clinton’s March 4 wins produced no changes for her in the council session the next day, added McEntee, whose union, the federation\'s largest, endorsed Clinton early.
All that means the fed\'s spending will focus, for now, on member education, the "turn around America" drive, getting out the vote and preventing GOP voter suppression. The federation\'s spending will be in addition to that of individual unions. McEntee says AFSCME alone will spend $60 million. A lot of the fed\'s effort, Ackerman said, will be to define McCain.
"In the absence of a clear Democratic candidate, it is very clear that McCain is an extension of George W. Bush\'s failed policies for the middle class," she explained.
"We know it\'s very important to communicate with our members at their worksites on his record: That he\'s voted for every trade deal that\'s come down the pike, that he voted against SCHIP" --t he children’s health insurance program whose expansion Bush vetoed -- "and that he voted against raising the minimum wage.
McCain "is not a maverick and someone who disagrees with Bush on economic policies," she said. "And on the war in Iraq, he has stated we\'ll be there for 100 years. How is that different from Bush?" The AFL-CIO, at its 2005 convention, broke with its own past and endorsed "rapid withdrawal" from Iraq.
A third component, the "turn around America" drive, will unite several top issues into one common theme: The need to elect new leadership to set the nation on a new pro-worker course. Those issues are universal and affordable health care, the right to organize and bargain collectively, fair trade not free trade, and the right to secure jobs.
That drive will have a big presence in Denver, where McEntee, AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney, Secretary-Treasurer Richard L. Trumka, retired Executive Vice President Linda Chavez-Thompson and hundreds of other unionists will be delegates to the Democratic National Convention.
If the Democratic primaries are any indicator, union mobilization and turnout this year may exceed the success unions had in the 2006 election. That year, 200,000 get-out-the-vote union volunteers hit the streets in the closing weeks and one-quarter of all voters were union members or their families -- double the union percentage of the workforce.
"We can see a lot of enthusiasm and excitement among union members in the primaries" regardless of whether they back Clinton or Obama, Ackerman said. "And on average, 30% of all Democratic primary voters came from union families, while in Ohio it was 34%."
Mark Gruenberg writes for Press Associates, Inc., news service. Used by permission.
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That program, presented Wednesday to the AFL-CIO Executive Council meeting in San Diego, was outlined to reporters by the federation\’s Political Committee Chair, AFSCME President Gerald McEntee, and Political Director Karen Ackerman.
Ackerman said the political plan includes up to 10 U.S. Senate races so far, including previously unlikely campaigns against incumbent Republicans in Mississippi (Roger Wicker), Alaska (Ted Stevens) and Kentucky (minority leader Mitch McConnell).
It also will include, as of now, 55 U.S. House races, three governorships, hundreds of state legislative races and dozens of referendums. McEntee says it will also include combating the Radical Right\’s so-called right-to-work initiatives and "paycheck deception," designed to evict workers from participating financially in politics.
While the outlines of the AFL-CIO program are known, many details are still to be determined. The number and location of races may change. And the fed has no estimate on how many volunteers it can recruit or a target for unionist turnout. Another, of course, is what the fed will do in the presidential race.
One thing it is not likely to do is endorse either Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) or Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) for the Democratic presidential nomination before either has gained a majority of delegates or before the party convention in Denver in August.
McEntee reiterated that\’s because a candidate needs votes of unions representing two-thirds of the federation\’s 10 million members for the AFL-CIO nod. Clinton, with 12 union endorsements to Obama\’s five–his latest was the International Longshore and Warehouse Union on Feb. 29– has "52% to 54% of members," he added. Clinton’s March 4 wins produced no changes for her in the council session the next day, added McEntee, whose union, the federation\’s largest, endorsed Clinton early.
All that means the fed\’s spending will focus, for now, on member education, the "turn around America" drive, getting out the vote and preventing GOP voter suppression. The federation\’s spending will be in addition to that of individual unions. McEntee says AFSCME alone will spend $60 million. A lot of the fed\’s effort, Ackerman said, will be to define McCain.
"In the absence of a clear Democratic candidate, it is very clear that McCain is an extension of George W. Bush\’s failed policies for the middle class," she explained.
"We know it\’s very important to communicate with our members at their worksites on his record: That he\’s voted for every trade deal that\’s come down the pike, that he voted against SCHIP" –t he children’s health insurance program whose expansion Bush vetoed — "and that he voted against raising the minimum wage.
McCain "is not a maverick and someone who disagrees with Bush on economic policies," she said. "And on the war in Iraq, he has stated we\’ll be there for 100 years. How is that different from Bush?" The AFL-CIO, at its 2005 convention, broke with its own past and endorsed "rapid withdrawal" from Iraq.
A third component, the "turn around America" drive, will unite several top issues into one common theme: The need to elect new leadership to set the nation on a new pro-worker course. Those issues are universal and affordable health care, the right to organize and bargain collectively, fair trade not free trade, and the right to secure jobs.
That drive will have a big presence in Denver, where McEntee, AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney, Secretary-Treasurer Richard L. Trumka, retired Executive Vice President Linda Chavez-Thompson and hundreds of other unionists will be delegates to the Democratic National Convention.
If the Democratic primaries are any indicator, union mobilization and turnout this year may exceed the success unions had in the 2006 election. That year, 200,000 get-out-the-vote union volunteers hit the streets in the closing weeks and one-quarter of all voters were union members or their families — double the union percentage of the workforce.
"We can see a lot of enthusiasm and excitement among union members in the primaries" regardless of whether they back Clinton or Obama, Ackerman said. "And on average, 30% of all Democratic primary voters came from union families, while in Ohio it was 34%."
Mark Gruenberg writes for Press Associates, Inc., news service. Used by permission.