Limbaugh’s Hometown Home to Active Union Movement

Cathy Sherwin, AFL-CIO communications director for Missouri, describes why union members in a conservative county support Robin Carnahan for Senate.

Cape Girardeau, Mo., probably isn’t the first place you’d think of as a union town. It’s the  hometown of Rush Limbaugh, and residents of Cape County haven’t voted for a Democrat in a presidential race since 1964. It is a Red city in a Purple state. When it comes to the union movement, however, there is more to Cape Girardeau than meets the eye.

The folks in the Southeast Missouri Central Labor Council work hard to build unity among all the members in the region. President Mark Baker and a dedicated crew of activists have been organizing our Labor Picnic for four years to give members a chance to relax with their families and friends in beautiful Cape Girardeau County Park. Along with the fishing tournament and the tug of war, candidates and elected officials flock to get a chance to meet with union members.

There’s a big struggle for the Missouri Senate seat that’s been held by a Republican since 1986. Roy Blunt, longtime Republican congressman from southern Missouri, has saturated the airwaves using big-dollar corporate donations. So given Blunt’s big-bucks backing, when 500 union members got together in a Republican county for an early Labor Day picnic in late August, what sort of reception is there for Senate candidate Robin Carnahan?

From the minute Carnahan arrived at the picnic, union members from the gamut of trades and industries greeted her and offered their help. Electricians, painters, roofers, operating engineers, communications and sheet metal workers and union retirees. Roy Gunter, an IBEW activist, pledged his support and mentioned he’d already been phone banking for Robin all morning.

All the union members pointed to the same issue as their top concern: jobs. Our picnic banner, “American Jobs Now!” reflected the statements of many who said we need more jobs in this state, and we need a senator who will work for jobs and support those still out of work. Clearly, the crowd of union workers here in southeast Missouri were united to get folks working again, and united in their support for Robin Carnahan. They said Missouri needs a senator who would stop giving tax dollars to corporations that ship U.S. jobs overseas and support manufacturing and industries here at home.

After all, in these tough times, even in the reddest of Republican strongholds, Missourians are getting to know the truth about Blunt. That he’s voted time and again against the minimum wage, and just this summer voted against unemployment benefits. A candidate so cozy with Wall Street that he wants to privatize Social Security and risk tax dollars on the stock market. And when thousands of teachers and firefighters in southeast Missouri were at risk of losing their jobs, Roy Blunt sat out the vote, too busy fighting for his own job.

Cape Girardeau union members working hard for a Democratic candidate for Senate? Just like that banner says: Jobs, Jobs, Jobs.

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