Pro-Worker Candidates Show Support for Labor 2008 Political Mobilization

by Seth Michaels, Oct 15, 2008

Across the country, pro-worker candidates are standing alongside the union members who will make the difference in this election. From Sen. Barack Obama to congressional, state and local races, working family-friendly candidates say the AFL-CIO Labor 2008 political mobilization program will be essential to victory in November.

Rep. Jason Altmire, who won his first race in 2006 in Pennsylvania’s 4th District in large part because of the strong support of union members, and Jill Long Thompson, a candidate for Indiana governor, are two candidates who know the importance of the Labor 2008 political program.

In Pennsylvania, state Labor 2008 director Frank Snyder reports that members of the United Steelworkers (USW) are visiting worksites to get the word out about the election. Last week, Snyder says President Rick Galiano of USW Local 9305 joined with Bernie Hall from USW Local 8183 and Mike Sabat of USW Local 9305 to leaflet workers at the Koppel Steel Plant in Beaver County. Also joining the group was AFL-CIO-endorsed Rep. Altmire, who helped pass out information on Obama’s support for working families as well as for his own campaign.

At the plant, Galiano spoke with a number of workers and said that worksite contact will make the difference this fall.

We are out talking to our fellow union members about the importance of the upcoming election. As union members, Barack Obama is the best candidate for us and our future.

Ray Reheer, a USW Local 3905 member, says he’ll support Obama this fall because Obama “supports health care for everyone” and

wants to preserve my Social Security. With the economy going the way it is right now, I can’t understand how any union member wouldn’t vote for him.

Ed Lackner, another Local 3905 member, said the economy has made this election especially important.

I think this election is the most important one of my lifetime. It’s time for a change and it’s time for us to start moving in the right direction again. With the price of groceries and the price of gas these days, it’s very difficult for working people. Everything that Obama stands for is going to help change that. He is the best candidate for the middle-class.

Altmire says these worksite visits will be critical to his re-election and to Obama’s chances in the critical state of Pennsylvania.

It is important for union members to be having these conversations. Union members trust each other, work together, and have relationships. No one better understands where one union member is coming from than another union member. So it is crucial that union members talk to each other about the upcoming election and the issues.

In his first term, Altmire signed on as a co-sponsor of the Employee Free Choice Act to help ensure the freedom to form unions and bargain. He’s living up to his pledge to vote for pro-worker policies in Congress.

Sabat says worksite visits will continue over the coming weeks, to make sure every union voter is educated and mobilized.

We are going to be out leafleting another plant on Thursday. We are going to keep reaching out to members from now until the election. We need to make sure our members are educated and the face-to-face conversations that these leaflets facilitate are the best way to do that.

For decades, Indiana has voted Republican in presidential elections, but this year, union member-to-member outreach has boosted support for Obama and opened the possibility that Thompson, the AFL-CIO-endorsed candidate for governor, will win as well. Thompson is in a tough fight against anti-worker incumbent Gov. Mitch Daniels, a former Bush administration official. She says she can unseat Daniels and that Obama can win in Indiana, if union members keep up all the hard work.

I want to thank everyone in organized labor who’s been helping my campaign. It’s crunch time…the Senator from Illinois—who’s going to be the next president—and I need you to be canvassing door-to-door, putting up signs. I can’t begin to express how much I appreciate everything you’re doing, not just to help my campaign, but to change the climate for working families in Indiana and across 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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