By a unanimous vote, the AFSCME Executive Board voted June 18 to endorse Obama, union President Gerald McEntee said. In a telephone press conference, McEntee said his union expects to mobilize at least 40,000 of its 1.4 million members as activists for Obama in the fall campaign. It also expects to spend "close to $50 million on the campaign," including advertising.
McEntee, who chairs the AFL-CIO\'s Political Committee, added he expects a federation-wide endorsement of the Illinoisan "within the next two weeks."
Delegates to the upcoming convention of the National Education Association, the nation\'s largest union, will vote on whether to endorse Obama, NEA President Reg Weaver said.
The vote by the 9,000 delegates, meeting July 2-4 in Washington, comes after the union thoroughly evaluated the positions of both Obama and the presumed GOP nominee, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., on issues key to teachers, students and schools. Two months ago, the 3.2-million-member union issued a blistering critique of McCain\'s economic proposals. NEA said they would produce a spending freeze that would harm public schools and 3.6 million students.
The NEA endorsement is important because it has politically active members in every state and because NEA has led successful campaigns on education-related issues by convincing other voters of their importance.
"Ideally, NEA would have endorsed a candidate during the primaries, but our members were like voters everywhere," split between Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., Weaver said. Now that Obama has enough Democratic delegates to be the nominee, and with "such a clear picture of what Obama will do for public education and his commitment to partner with NEA on issues that affect our members across the country, every public school employee needs to get squarely behind" him, Weaver said.
AFSCME campaigned hard during the primary season for Clinton, whom its board strongly -- though not unanimously -- endorsed. Its pro-Clinton campaign included criticism of Obama\'s health care plans as incomplete and of Obama as inexperienced. But McEntee said conditions changed and that union leaders were particularly satisfied by intensive meetings on June 17-18 with Obama, where they quizzed him and exchanged views on education, trade, health care and other issues.
To get the AFL-CIO\'s endorsement, Obama needs votes of unions representing two-thirds of the federation\'s 9 million members. That endorsement would not come from the federation\'s Executive Council, but from its larger General Board. McEntee said he expects AFL-CIO President John Sweeney to convene a telephone conference call among that board\'s members to make the decision.
Obama has already been endorsed by the Change to Win labor federation, which includes the Teamsters, Service Employees International Union, Laborers and United Food & Commercial Workers. The United Steelworkers, the nation\'s largest industrial union, also recently announced its support of Obama.
This article is adapted from reports by Press Associates, Inc., news service.
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By a unanimous vote, the AFSCME Executive Board voted June 18 to endorse Obama, union President Gerald McEntee said. In a telephone press conference, McEntee said his union expects to mobilize at least 40,000 of its 1.4 million members as activists for Obama in the fall campaign. It also expects to spend "close to $50 million on the campaign," including advertising.
McEntee, who chairs the AFL-CIO\’s Political Committee, added he expects a federation-wide endorsement of the Illinoisan "within the next two weeks."
Delegates to the upcoming convention of the National Education Association, the nation\’s largest union, will vote on whether to endorse Obama, NEA President Reg Weaver said.
The vote by the 9,000 delegates, meeting July 2-4 in Washington, comes after the union thoroughly evaluated the positions of both Obama and the presumed GOP nominee, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., on issues key to teachers, students and schools. Two months ago, the 3.2-million-member union issued a blistering critique of McCain\’s economic proposals. NEA said they would produce a spending freeze that would harm public schools and 3.6 million students.
The NEA endorsement is important because it has politically active members in every state and because NEA has led successful campaigns on education-related issues by convincing other voters of their importance.
"Ideally, NEA would have endorsed a candidate during the primaries, but our members were like voters everywhere," split between Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., Weaver said. Now that Obama has enough Democratic delegates to be the nominee, and with "such a clear picture of what Obama will do for public education and his commitment to partner with NEA on issues that affect our members across the country, every public school employee needs to get squarely behind" him, Weaver said.
AFSCME campaigned hard during the primary season for Clinton, whom its board strongly — though not unanimously — endorsed. Its pro-Clinton campaign included criticism of Obama\’s health care plans as incomplete and of Obama as inexperienced. But McEntee said conditions changed and that union leaders were particularly satisfied by intensive meetings on June 17-18 with Obama, where they quizzed him and exchanged views on education, trade, health care and other issues.
To get the AFL-CIO\’s endorsement, Obama needs votes of unions representing two-thirds of the federation\’s 9 million members. That endorsement would not come from the federation\’s Executive Council, but from its larger General Board. McEntee said he expects AFL-CIO President John Sweeney to convene a telephone conference call among that board\’s members to make the decision.
Obama has already been endorsed by the Change to Win labor federation, which includes the Teamsters, Service Employees International Union, Laborers and United Food & Commercial Workers. The United Steelworkers, the nation\’s largest industrial union, also recently announced its support of Obama.
This article is adapted from reports by Press Associates, Inc., news service.