2008 in Review: Union Members: Yes, We Can; Yes, We Did
Here’s the final part in our series taking a look back at 2008. Be sure to check out Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5.
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Change was in the air—and on the way—in November, as the AFL-CIO’s biggest-ever political mobilization headed toward the finish line. Tens of thousands of union volunteers packed local union halls to phone bank or to talk with union family voters in neighborhoods around the country in the final get-out-the-vote push to elect Barack Obama and win even bigger working family majorities in Congress.
Obama chose a union hall as his last campaign stop. On Election Day morning, he popped into UAW Local 550′s Indianapolis phone bank. Said Keith Neargardener, UAW Region 3 CAP director:
You know, to make the union hall your last stop before becoming president sends such a great message. It shows how he’s not afraid to say the word union and to embrace and support unions openly.
Students, AFL-CIO Stand Up to Republican Challenge in Ohio
Here is the latest of our updates on voting issues throughout the day. Share what’s going on at your polling place on our Open Thread here.
The Columbus Dispatch today reported that students at Ohio State University (OSU), supported by the AFL-CIO, stood their ground against Republican attempts to disenfranchise student voters.
A Republican Party operative protested the proximity to the polling place of four members of OSU Votes, a student get-out-the-vote group, which was making sure students had the identification needed to vote and trying to steer them to the correct polling place. Ohio Republican Party attorney Keith Schneider demanded that the precinct officials move the group at least 100 feet from the front door, claiming they were influencing students’ votes.
