2008 in Review: McCain Sinking, Employee Free Choice Act Rising

by Mike Hall, Dec 31, 2008

Here’s the fifth part in our series taking a look back at 2008. Be sure to check out Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4.

Then-Sen. Barack Obama, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney and UAW President Ron Gettelfinger addressed a Labor Day rally in Detroit.

The presidential campaign dominated the headlines as summer turned to fall.

By Labor Day, the traditional start of the campaign season, the tens of thousands of union volunteers who had been on the ground for months intensified their efforts. On the job, at the doors and on the phones, they talked with even more union members about the stark differences between Barack Obama’s working families agenda and John McCain’s corporate platform.

In a Labor Day message, Obama told workers:

It’s time you had a president who honors organized labor—who’s walked on picket lines; who doesn’t choke on the word “union”; who lets our unions do what they do best and organize our workers; and who will finally make the Employee Free Choice Act the law of the land.

In a move to reverse his fading momentum, McCain first turned to Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential pick. But as the AFL-CIO website Palin Revealed and other sources unmasked the little known politician’s extremist views, his post convention bounce flattened right out.

Next, in a desperate move to woo working family and blue-collar voters, McCain trotted out “Joe the Plumber,” a nonunion, unlicensed, Republican-shill who claimed Obama’s tax plan would forever dash his dreams of owning his own business. But several real “Joe the Plumbers” rose up to set the record straight. Joe Martinez, a Colorado plumber and member of Plumbers and Pipe Fitters (UA) Local 3, had this to say:

John McCain doesn’t understand working families and I don’t understand how any plumber can vote for John McCain. He’s just not in touch with the working man at all.

With just two weeks remaining before Election Day, more than 250,000 union volunteers had made 70 million phone calls, distributed 27 million worksite fliers and knocked on 10 million doors. They were ready to turn around America. A week before Election Day, AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker told a Youngstown, Ohio, union voter rally,

We cannot take four more years. We have to win. There is no alternative.

Along with the political battles, the drumbeat of bad economic news shared the headlines. September saw the worst monthly drop in jobs in five years—159,000. The number of long-term jobless—more than six months—hit 2 million even as there were 2.6 job seekers for every available job.

Along with the rapidly worsening job picture, home foreclosures skyrocketed and banks and financial institutions teetered on the brink of disaster. But while Congress bailed out Wall Street to the tune of $700 billion, Republican senators blocked a working families’ economic recovery package. The bill would have created jobs for rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure, put money directly into the pockets of the long-term unemployed and helped states meet their growing financial crises.

On the seventh anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, there still was no permanent medical monitoring and treatment program for as many as 100,000 responders—firefighters, paramedics, rescue and recovery workers—who were exposed to the stew of chemicals and other toxic substances in the rubble of the World Trade Center. The Bush administration’s record of delaying, blocking and cutting funding continued as his regime neared the end.

Workers in Miami rally to get out the early vote for Obama.

The workers’ advocacy organization, American Rights at Work, hit the airwaves with a new TV advertising campaign in support of the Employee Free Choice Act. The ads were part of a coordinated effort among workers’ rights advocates, progressives and the union movement to make passage of the bill a major issue in the 2008 election.

The  Million-Member Mobilization to pass the Employee Free Choice Act hit more than 800,000 signatures.

In other headlines from September and October:

Thousands of Workers Gain a Voice with AFL-CIO Unions

Report: Latinos in Unions Fare Better Than Nonunion Peers

NLRB Orders Trump Plaza to Bargain with UAW

Fair Pay Hearing Shows Why Pay Discrimination Isn’t OK

Job Safety Experts Protest Secret Rule in House Subcommittee Hearing

NATCA: FAA Ignores Runway Safety Improvements

Sick and Fired: U.S. Workers Struggle Without Paid Sick, Parental Leave

CNA’s Rolling Road Show for Health Care Hits Key Battleground States

CWA Joins Blue Green Alliance

Violence Against Union Members Escalates in Colombia

After Ike, Texas Unions Dig Out, Help Others In Need

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