At Worksites and Doors, Union Members Get Out the Message

Posted by Seth Michaels to AFL-CIO NOW

In key states around the country, the union vote will make the difference this fall. As part of the Labor 2008 program, the largest union voter mobilization in history, union volunteers are working hard to educate other members about why they support Sen. Barack Obama and intend to elect a pro-working family Congress this fall.

Worksite leafleting is just one of the ways Colorado union members communicate with fellow members about Obama’s record of supporting working families, says Phil Hayes, Labor 2008 state director. Last week, SMWIA Local 9 President Scott Jorgensen and NATCA staffer Chris McKeever spent hours at Denver construction sites talking to IBEW, SMWIA and UA members, Hayes reports.

Jorgensen, who leaflets at least one worksite every week, says talking to members at their job sites is a critical part of member-to-member communication.

It’s really easy to delete an e-mail, or delete your voice mail, but to actually have somebody come and talk to you—I think they appreciate that a little more that we’re actually doing this.

Tina Desautels, an APWU member in Colorado, sums up why union members are enthusiastically volunteering to help elect Obama.

"I support Barack Obama because I believe he has our best interests at heart. We need heath care, we need jobs, and I think he’s the guy who’s going to do it for us."

McKeever comes out to worksites to show members it’s not just one person or one union supporting Obama, but an entire institution.

"The diversity of the people who are doing the leafleting also tells them that it’s not just one union or two unions. It’s a brotherhood of unions that’s involved in this, and trying to get the message across of what’s important to working families—the Employee Free Choice Act, stopping “right to work” laws being instituted in states, and the general turning around and strengthening of labor as an entire organization."

Worksite leafleting is an effective and powerful way to communicate with members about issues important to workers and their families. Being able to have a discussion about Obama’s 98 percent labor voting record or his support of workers trying to form unions is critical to educating our members. McKeever believes in the power of numbers.

"When we bring a sheet metal worker, an air traffic controller, an electrical worker, a plumber, and we all come out to one job site—it just shows them it’s not just one union that’s telling them this message."

Randy Kiser, Labor 2008 state director for Missouri, reports the effort to elect Obama and pro-working family candidates is going strong in this battleground state. The Kansas City area Labor 2008 team held its third Labor Walk on Saturday in Raymore, Mo.

Kiser reports that 42 union members volunteered for the event, despite record high temperatures in Missouri this past weekend. Enthusiastic volunteers teamed up and knocked on other union member doors to encourage support for Kay Barnes, a candidate for Congress in the 6th District, and to educate union members on the issues in this election and the difference between Sen. John McCain and Obama on those issues.

The 42 volunteers at the labor walk, Kiser reports, represented the AFT, CWA, GCC/IBT, GKCBT, IAM, IBEW, Insulators, IUEC, IUPAT, MNEA, NATCA, SEIU, Teamsters, UFCW and USW.

From Madison to Green Bay, worksite leafleting is under way in Wisconsin as well, reports Sue Ledbetter, Labor 2008 state director.

In recent presidential elections, Wisconsin was decided by just over 11,000 votes in 2004 and fewer than 6,000 votes in 2000. So union members know every vote counts, and they’re stepping up in a big way. More than 57,000 flyers were ordered between June 27 and July 9 by AFSCME, AFT, ATU, BCTD, CWA, IAM, IBEW, IRON, UA, UAW and USW.

Ledbetter reports that AFSCME retiree Gretchen Lowe, a longtime Local 720 member who served as an officer and newsletter editor, leafleted last week outside a Madison city-county building where AFSCME members of Locals 60 and 720 work.

Lowe and four others spent about an hour on the morning of July 10 passing out pro-Obama flyers. While most people were eager to get to work, the Obama leaflets did spark a few conversations. One AFSCME member had worked previously in Chicago and remembered Obama positively from there. Lowe said the leafleting has been successful.

We always get a pretty good reception leafleting.

Ledbetter also reports that Patrick Landgraf, SMWIA Local 18 president and business manager, took part in worksite leafleting at MegTec in Green Bay on July 15. MegTec is the biggest production shop in Local 18, with 140 workers producing the pollution-control and air-flotation devices, dryers and other equipment that supports the paper industry. You can see photos of the leafleting here.

It’s this member-to-member contact, at doors and worksites, that will get union members engaged and mobilized for the fall and help pro-working family candidates win in these key states.

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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.