Oregon Union Members Outvoting General Electorate by 13 Percent

Jennifer Sargent, Oregon AFL-CIO research and communications director, reports on working families’ election mobilization to increase health insurance coverage in the state and save Oregon’s farms and forests. 

Oregon’s union movement is very familiar with the ballot measure system—each year, unions grow stronger as they fight reactionary measures from the likes of Grover Norquist and Howie Rich.

Today, members are flexing their voting muscle for two “Yes” campaigns—Measure 50, which would provide health insurance to more than 100,000 uninsured kids, and Measure 49, which would save Oregon’s farms and forests, and the jobs that depend on these natural resources.

Says Tom Chamberlain, president of the Oregon AFL-CIO:

We don’t know the outcome of today’s election yet, but we do know that our members are voting at a rate that is 13 percent higher than the general electorate. The other side has spent $12 million, but we have the people and the passion on our side.

By midday, 50.1 percent of Oregon AFL-CIO’s union members had voted, compared with 44 percent of the general electorate—a difference of 6.1 points, or more than 13 percent.

Oregon has a vote-by-mail system, and ballots have been processed by union postal workers and delivered to county elections offices by union letter carriers for more than two weeks.

Today, KOIN News 6 came to the state federation’s Portland office to film volunteers for the Yes on 50, Healthy Kids campaign. For several weeks, members have been distributing worksite fliers, making phone calls and urging their union members to vote.

As Chamberlain says:

The news crew from Channel 6 read about the phone volunteers in our Weekly Update newsletter and showed up unannounced today to broadcast live from our office. People have come to expect us to have a buzz around election time, and our members are getting used to being recognized as being a force to be reckoned with.

Last week, a news crew covered the Oregon AFL-CIO on a Yes on 50 canvass as well.

Both Measure 49 and Measure 50 were referred to voters by the 2007 Oregon Legislature. Most anti-worker ballot measures begin as initiative petitions, because extremist organizations can test their ideas on Oregon’s ballot by hiring contractors to collect as few as 75,000 valid signatures.

As Chamberlain says:

Our members have stepped up year after year to beat back anti-worker ballot measures, so it’s exciting for us to have something good to fight for this year.

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