At its council meeting in Las Vegas, AFL-CIO leaders asked unions to wait until they go through a member-intensive process evaluating each candidate -- and until after the federation’s planned presidential candidates forum in Chicago in early August. But whether unions will obey is up to them: The fed has no constitutional power to order them to back off. Despite a request by AFL-CIO President John Sweeney -- even if it wasn’t a formal statement --t hey didn’t do that in the last presidential campaign.
Then, the Fire Fighters led off in Sept. 2003 by endorsing Sen. John F. Kerry, D-Mass., the eventual Democratic nominee. Their backing turned out to be vital to his chances. A slew of unions quickly followed with endorsements of then-Rep. Richard Gephard, D-Mo.. AFSCME, the Service Employees and the Painters then backed former Gov. Howard Dean, D-Vt.., And UNITE HERE endorsed then-Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C.
With such a split, no candidate had the required two-thirds majority of the council for a labor-wide endorsement, until the Iowa caucus results ousted both Dean and Gephardt from the race, leaving Kerry as the council’s choice.
The federation’s endorsement is important, AFL-CIO Political Committee Chairman Gerald McEntee told a March 7 press conference during the council meeting. That’s not so much because of the money that labor is expected to pump into informational and get-out-the-vote campaigning in 2008 -- up to $45 million, he added -- but because of people it can mobilize.
By the weekend before the 2006 off-year election, the federation had 300,000 people at phone banks, doing street walks, distributing flyers and more in 32 states. “The key to our strength is not in checks we write--they’re relatively small--but that we have the best grass-roots efforts,” McEntee, who is also AFSCME president, said.
“And we have no intention of writing anyone a check before we make an endorsement,” he warned.
The result of that mobilization, federation Political Director Karen Ackerman said, was that unionists and members of their households were 24 percent of the entire electorate. Armed with information from their unions about candidate stands on issues important to workers, they voted by a 74 percent-26 percent margin for union-endorsed candidates.
The federation’s statement, approved by the council, asks all unions to undertake a bottom-up process to educate and inform their members and have them quiz candidates -- in forums, town hall meetings, one-on-one sessions and elsewhere -- before making a decision.
“The AFL-CIO will ask every national union to take no action to endorse any candidates until the General Board can make a decision whether or not to endorse a candidate prior to the primaries and, if so, which candidate to support,” the key part of the federation’s statement says. A federation-wide endorsement needs a vote of General Board union presidents who represent two-thirds of all AFL-CIO members.
The council will decide on the federation’s next moves in September after the Chicago candidates forum. It will be similar to the debate the council hosted, attended by hundreds of unionists, in Chicago four years ago. All Democratic hopefuls appeared.
This campaign’s evaluation process has already started: AFSCME’s presidential forum drew seven of the then eight Democratic hopefuls to Carson City, Nev., last month.
The Fire Fighters will have a day-long series of speeches--half an hour each--at their March 14 legislative conference in Washington, and the Building and Construction Trades Department has also invited hopefuls to its convention in late March.
And SEIU, which is now part of Change to Win, hosts a debate on health care, in Las Vegas, on March 24. CTW has not announced any plans for a federation-wide endorsement, but hopefuls are meeting with its unions’ presidents and their members, especially in early primary and caucus states, such as Nevada.
Mark Gruenberg writes for Press Associates, Inc., news service. Used by permission.
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At its council meeting in Las Vegas, AFL-CIO leaders asked unions to wait until they go through a member-intensive process evaluating each candidate — and until after the federation’s planned presidential candidates forum in Chicago in early August. But whether unions will obey is up to them: The fed has no constitutional power to order them to back off. Despite a request by AFL-CIO President John Sweeney — even if it wasn’t a formal statement –t hey didn’t do that in the last presidential campaign.
Then, the Fire Fighters led off in Sept. 2003 by endorsing Sen. John F. Kerry, D-Mass., the eventual Democratic nominee. Their backing turned out to be vital to his chances. A slew of unions quickly followed with endorsements of then-Rep. Richard Gephard, D-Mo.. AFSCME, the Service Employees and the Painters then backed former Gov. Howard Dean, D-Vt.., And UNITE HERE endorsed then-Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C.
With such a split, no candidate had the required two-thirds majority of the council for a labor-wide endorsement, until the Iowa caucus results ousted both Dean and Gephardt from the race, leaving Kerry as the council’s choice.
The federation’s endorsement is important, AFL-CIO Political Committee Chairman Gerald McEntee told a March 7 press conference during the council meeting. That’s not so much because of the money that labor is expected to pump into informational and get-out-the-vote campaigning in 2008 — up to $45 million, he added — but because of people it can mobilize.
By the weekend before the 2006 off-year election, the federation had 300,000 people at phone banks, doing street walks, distributing flyers and more in 32 states. “The key to our strength is not in checks we write–they’re relatively small–but that we have the best grass-roots efforts,” McEntee, who is also AFSCME president, said.
“And we have no intention of writing anyone a check before we make an endorsement,” he warned.
The result of that mobilization, federation Political Director Karen Ackerman said, was that unionists and members of their households were 24 percent of the entire electorate. Armed with information from their unions about candidate stands on issues important to workers, they voted by a 74 percent-26 percent margin for union-endorsed candidates.
The federation’s statement, approved by the council, asks all unions to undertake a bottom-up process to educate and inform their members and have them quiz candidates — in forums, town hall meetings, one-on-one sessions and elsewhere — before making a decision.
“The AFL-CIO will ask every national union to take no action to endorse any candidates until the General Board can make a decision whether or not to endorse a candidate prior to the primaries and, if so, which candidate to support,” the key part of the federation’s statement says. A federation-wide endorsement needs a vote of General Board union presidents who represent two-thirds of all AFL-CIO members.
The council will decide on the federation’s next moves in September after the Chicago candidates forum. It will be similar to the debate the council hosted, attended by hundreds of unionists, in Chicago four years ago. All Democratic hopefuls appeared.
This campaign’s evaluation process has already started: AFSCME’s presidential forum drew seven of the then eight Democratic hopefuls to Carson City, Nev., last month.
The Fire Fighters will have a day-long series of speeches–half an hour each–at their March 14 legislative conference in Washington, and the Building and Construction Trades Department has also invited hopefuls to its convention in late March.
And SEIU, which is now part of Change to Win, hosts a debate on health care, in Las Vegas, on March 24. CTW has not announced any plans for a federation-wide endorsement, but hopefuls are meeting with its unions’ presidents and their members, especially in early primary and caucus states, such as Nevada.
Mark Gruenberg writes for Press Associates, Inc., news service. Used by permission.