by Seth Michaels, Aug 7, 2008

In 2000 and 2004, the vote for president in Wisconsin and New Mexico were decided by less than 1 percent of the vote—the narrowest gaps of any state. Both also are hosting important races for Congress.

Through the AFL-CIO Labor 2008 program, the union movement’s largest political mobilization in history, union members in these two states are working hard to make sure that union voters know the fact about Sen. Barack Obama and his plans to improve the economy and fight for working families.

In New Mexico, Labor 2008 State Director Don Manning reports that Earl Reed, president of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) Local 351, got up at 5 a.m. one Saturday to distribute leaflets at local bakeries in Albuquerque. Reed handed out leaflets on Obama’s stand on veterans, the economy and the freedom to freely form unions. Reed, who is celebrating 20 years with BCTGM this year, says leafleting is an important part of making sure workers are ready for this fall’s election.

I hope to create a better working environment for myself and my family and friends. We need a new person in the White House who will change the laws to benefit the majority, not a privileged minority.

The most important issue for me is the economy. When hard working people can’t afford to take a vacation, there is something wrong. I believe that Obama can change things.

Accompanying Reed was Ed Mullin, Labor 2008 release staff from NATCA.

If we keep the focus on working people, everything else will fall into place. Obama will win because of grassroots efforts, and he doesn’t seem like the kind of man likely to forget that.

Reed understands the importance of unions in getting workers involved in the election. He points to the recent efforts of Wal-Mart to put the squeeze on its managers to vote against Obama and says that union mobilization is a critical counterbalance to big-money corporate interests and their influence on the election.

Many corporations are pushing employees not to vote for Obama because they are afraid that when he gets into office he will pass the Employee Free Choice Act and employees will be able to form unions. Union-buster corporations don’t want Obama in the White House: all the more reason for us to support him!

Meanwhile, Sue Ledbetter, Labor 2008 director for Wisconsin, reports that union volunteers are dedicating their evenings to talking with other union members, getting out information on the issues at stake. Members of AFT/WFNHP Local 5001 and Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 4603 proved last week that anywhere there is a phone, there can be a phone bank. 

Members of Local 5001 phone banked in shifts all day on July 28, Ledbetter reports. Three release staffers and a variety of volunteers used five available phone lines in the WFNHP office to make calls. The script asks, “If the election for president were to be held today, who would you support, Barack Obama or John McCain?” It also asks if the person being called would like to sign up as a volunteer. Once all WFNHP members were called, phone bankers moved on to a larger AFT list. 

Local 5001 member Connie Langoehr is one of the hardworking union volunteers helping to make a difference this year.

When I’m at work, I ask any and everybody to volunteer to phone bank. I just try to recruit as many people as possible. Especially as we get closer to the election, we want to get more members to be activists.

The largest shift of phone bank volunteers took over all of the office’s phone lines after it closed for the day. Local 5001 plans to have a big phone bank one day a month until the election, with the next one scheduled for Aug. 18.

Local 4603 holds an evening phone bank at least once and sometimes twice a week, Ledbetter adds. Members are encouraged to stop by for any amount of time and grab one of Local 4603’s phones to make calls to their fellow union members.

These union members are carrying out the diligent, important work that’s at the heart of the Labor 2008 program. With an energized, mobilized union movement, we can win the election for working family-friendly candidates and turn around America.

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Paid for by the AFL-CIO Committee on Political Education Political Contributions Committee, www.aflcio.org, and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.

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