Working Families Vote: Election 2010 Thread
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10:27: Looks like Ken Buck won’t be going to the tea party. The Denver Post has just projected Sen. Michael Bennet (D) the winner over the arch conservative Buck in the Colorado U.S. Senate race.
Nov. 3: Sen. Majority Harry Reid of Nevada defeated Sharron Angle with a big boost from working family voters, who provided his margin of victory.
- Some 270,162 union members voted for Reid by 69 percent, with 29 percent voting for Angle. Among non-union members, Reid lost 49-44.
Also, another former CEO needs to check her business plan. Sen. Barbara Boxer defeated former Hewlett-Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina because, reports the Times, Boxer was able to turn “Fiorina’s record at the company against her, accusing the former CEO of outsourcing jobs and laying off 30,000 workers.” It certainly is about jobs.
Union members voted for Brown by a 36 point margin and gave Boxer by a 34 point edge. Some 30,000 union volunteers knocked on 413,000 doors, helped make 4.1 million calls and distributed 2.94 million worksite fliers.
Be sure and check back tomorrow for late results and other election news. Read the rest of this entry »
Door to Door in Denver to Get Out the Vote
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Kate Rosenbarger, communications field coordinator for Colorado, sent us this report.
There are many doors to knock on and many union members to talk with—and Colorado workers know there is no time to waste to get out the vote for the November elections.
Many people see Sundays as the time to relax—but not the more than 75 Labor 2010 volunteers who turned out in Denver this past Sunday. They were joined by several national union leaders who traveled to Denver to take part: AFGE National Vice President Gerry Swanke, NALC Vice President-elect Tim O’Malley and NALC National Executive Board Member Roger Bledsoe.
In an election where every vote matters, every day gives members a chance to talk with other members about issues important to working families. With fewer than six weeks until Election Day and ballots dropping in Colorado on Oct. 12, union members took time on a beautiful Colorado day to deliver a crucial message to their fellow union members.
Dena McClung, a NATCA member, was among them.
Seeing so many union members out walking—especially on a Sunday—really proves a point. Working families are ready to move forward. And we’re not going to sit around and wait for it to happen. We are going to make it happen, one day at a time, one door at a time, and one conversation at a time.
CWA: Let the Senate Breathe and Work, End Republican Filibuster Stranglehold
Long gone are the days of U.S. senators standing on the floor of the Senate as hours turned to days while they filibustered legislation they hoped they could talk to death because they didn’t have the votes to kill it outright.
Senate rules no longer require filibustering senators to stay on the floor and speak while all Senate business grinds to a halt, as in the iconic scene in “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” where Jimmy Stewart’s character filibusters to exhaustion.
The Cost of ‘No’ and Other Health Care Perspectives
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Here’s the latest news from the fight for real health care reform:
• In the Baltimore Sun, Tom Schaller looks at how the nation’s broken health care system is undermining our economy. The cost of doing nothing to reform health care would be trillions of dollars, he says.
• In a great new piece at the Huffington Post, Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) explains why he’s saying “Yes” to health care reform. We’re at a defining historical moment, Bennet says, and we can’t afford to continue the status quo.
• Think Progress looks at how insurance company bureaucrats are standing between patients and their doctors.
• The National Farmers Union has come out in support of health care reform, saying rural families need lower costs, more choices and better access to care. Senators from heavily rural states like Arkansas, Maine and Nebraska should pay attention.
As Momentum Builds, Workers Speak Out on Employee Free Choice
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| Wisconsin health care workers deliver thousands of postcards in support of Employee Free Choice to Sen. Herb Kohl. |
With momentum building for the Employee Free Choice Act, workers across the country are taking the lead in the fight–speaking out at town hall meetings and rallies and asking their senators to pass this critical bill and make the economy work for everyone.
Here are a few of the ways workers are making a difference:
Ken Bruner, a Vietnam veteran, helicopter pilot and the president of Office and Professional Employees (OPEIU) Local 107, spoke at a roundtable about the Employee Free Choice Act in Louisiana last week and said the freedom to form unions can benefit workers and businesses alike.
Former NLRB Examiner: We Need Employee Free Choice
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Ask Shannon Hilt, who’s seen our broken system for forming unions firsthand, and she’ll tell you that there’s no question: Workers need the Employee Free Choice Act.
Hilt spent three years as a field examiner for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), overseeing the elections process and investigating unfair practices. She says the system we have now, one in which companies, not workers, have all the power, isn’t free, it isn’t fair and doesn’t protect workers.
Writing in the Boulder, Colo., Daily Camera, Hilt explains how her years of experience as an NLRB field examiner have convinced her that we need fundamental labor law reform that gives workers, not their bosses, the ability to decide how they form a union and bargain. Here’s how Hilt describes the way union elections happen now:
Through the process of holding union elections, I observed that employees were often intimidated and harassed before the election took place. The company has unfettered access to employees before the union election takes place and oftentimes they use that access to hold mandatory meetings where they discourage their employees from voting for a union in illegal ways.
Lots of Action in Lots of States in Support of Employee Free Choice
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| Hundreds of Colorado union members turned out to show their support for Employee Free Choice at a town hall meeting with Sen. Michael Bennet. |
At a town hall meeting in Colorado and events in key states, union members and allies are asking their senators to quickly pass the Employee Free Choice Act and make the economy work for everyone.
Don Slaiman, who’s working on the Employee Free Choice Act campaign in the critical state of Colorado, reports that recently appointed Sen. Michael Bennet visited Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 68 hall to hear from workers about the Employee Free Choice Act. It’s one of several town hall meetings Bennet has held around the state, and workers are showing him how strong and broad their support is, Slaiman says:
We had over 400 union members in attendance, representing…almost every local and every part of the state. The appearance, energy, sentiments, diversity and breadth of participation were tremendous.
Workers in Colorado, Arkansas Advance the Fight for Employee Free Choice
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In Colorado, Arkansas and key states around the country, the fight for the Employee Free Choice Act continued over the past week, as grassroots activists got the chance to make the case to elected leaders in support of the freedom to form unions and bargain.
In Colorado, newly appointed Sen. Michael Bennet held a town hall meeting at Washington Park Church of Christ in Denver, part of a statewide tour to discuss the economy. The Rev. Daniel Klawitter, a member of Colorado Interfaith Worker Justice, presented Bennet with 300 letters from religious leaders and workers around the state asking him to support the Employee Free Choice Act.
The AFL-CIO’s Don Slaiman reports that Bennet took a question from him about the Employee Free Choice Act, an issue that Bennet said had been coming up around the state. While he says he’s still studying the issue, Bennet acknowledged that the decline in worker power and the failure of wages to keep up with productivity has hurt the economy. Slaiman, Klawitter and other attendees got a chance to explain to Bennett why they support the Employee Free Choice Act.
