53 Days Are we ready? LABOR 2008 UPDATE 9-11.

This week while many of our Statewide Labor Leaders was in Cleveland attending the 50th AFL-CIO Anniversary Convention, a great many of our Labor foot soldiers were making phone calls and walks just like we did on Septemebr 4th.

If your Local hasn't yet had the opportunity to work with, walk with, or talk with our AFL-CIO one leads now is the time to get energized. Get them Volunteers and then contact your Zone Lead. Need help? Call me and I'll be happy to assist you.

Tom Curley, Ohio AFL-CIO, Building Trades Liaison (419-461-2008)

Dear Ohio Labor Leaders, Last Thursday, 303 union members around the state put their feet to good use by walking in their neighborhoods to talk to fellow members about the upcoming election.  We found that many union members understand why Barack Obama is the best candidate for working families, but we also found that many, many people are still undecided. We have only 53 days to Election Day.  As many Ohio labor leaders head to the Ohio AFL-CIO Convention in Cleveland this week, we remember how urgent our work is and why we must all work together; this is our one chance to elect leaders who will be accountable to working families.  Around the state, we are seeing that happening – we are seeing people come together and local unions organizing to create change this November.  Conservative leaders like Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin derided community organizing at the Republican National Convention, but in the labor movement we know that it is through organizing that regular people – those of us who don’t have millions of dollars or powerful friends – get things done.  This year, it is through organizing with our unions that we will lay the foundation for a future that respects workers and protects the middle class.   We are pleased to honor Paul LaBuda, President of BCTGM 19, as Labor Leader of the Week this week, and NALC Branch 385 as our Local Union Spotlight.  Mr. LaBuda and the leaders of NALC 385 are setting the standard for how we get involved in this election and make it work for us.  We are also profiling Kenneth Rawls, a TWU leader and member of the Labor 2008 release staff corps.  He is helping run walks and organize the Labor 2008 program in the Columbus office. Lastly, remember to check out our blog at http://labor2008.typepad.com/oh. In solidarity, Ben Waxman, National AFL-CIO Labor 2008 Ohio Director Jeanette Mauk, Ohio AFL-CIO Field Director Program Report Card Labor Leader of the Week: Paul LaBuda, BCTGM 19 Local Union Spotlight: NALC 385, Pres. John Dyce Meet Your Release Staff: Kenny Rawls, TWU 208 News From Around the State: ALF Updates Working America Update, from Dan Heck Union Jobs News Clips 1. Program Report Card September 4 Walks AFSCME walkers sign in in Cincinnati Around the state, hundreds of labor activists participated in the September 4th walks last Thursday, and many discovered that union members are supporting Barack Obama.  However, many also heard that their fellow union members don’t have a lot of information about the candidates and are still making up their minds.  Dave Caldwell, Assistant Director for USW District 1, walked in Columbus and talked with several union members who said they would support John McCain.  He said, “We’ve got our work cut out for us.  The propaganda machine on the other side is working hard and it’s going to be an uphill battle.  Clearly it’s something we’re capable of doing, but we have to work hard to make it happen.  Many of our members are misinformed, and it’s on us to make sure that they know who’s really on the side of working families, like Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Mary Jo Kilroy, and others.”   John Kilbane, Business Manager of LIUNA 310 in Cleveland, said of the walks, “Obviously not only is support of all kinds is essential for victory in November, in all neighborhoods.  But especially in neighborhoods where there is a high concentration of union voters, union visibility is very important.  Vocal support is great, monetary support is great, but high visibility – putting a face to all these efforts – is equally important.  People need to see that it’s people just like them doing the work, doing the advocacy, and doing the outreach.” The following unions participated in the walks: Akron AFSCME, CWA, IATSE, IUOE, NALC, OPEIU, UA, USW   Ray Pugh, NALC 78, debriefs with community service liaison Joan Fluharty after a September 4 walk in Columbus Athens AFSCME, OPCMIA, USW Canton AFSCME, CWA, OPEIU, UA, UFCW, USW Cleveland AFGE, ATU, AFSCME, APWU, CTU, IBEW, NALC, NATCA, NEA, IOCM, IOEIU, UAW, TNG-CWA, UNITE-HERE Columbus AFSCME, AFT, BCTGM, IUPAT, NALC, UA, UNITE-HERE, USW Cincinnati AFSCME, APWU Dayton BAC, CWA, IRON, OAPSE/AFSCME, USW Lima AFSCME, USW Toledo IBEW, AFSCME Council 8, APWU, OAPSE/AFSCME Mansfield AFSCME, BAC, IUPAT, LIUNA Marietta IBEW, IUPAT, USW Martins Ferry NALC, OPCMIA, USW Dayton AFSCME, BAC, CWA, IRON, USW New Philadelphia USW, UFCW Niles AFSCME, CWA, IBEW, LIUNA, UA, USW Sandusky AFSCME, IUPAT, LIUNA Austintown IBEW, NALC, RWDSU Salem AFSCME Council 8, IBEW, IUE-CWA, LIUNA, OAPSE/AFSCME, UA, USW 100,000 Conversations: The Amazing Portable Predictive Dialer CWA 4320 members phone bank in Columbus on Monday On September 3-4, USW members made calls at a phone bank in Cleveland organized by Sandy Kowalski.  September 6, the dialer was in Canton, organized by Nanette Folsom (OAPSE), and on September 13, it will be in Norwalk, organized by Lynda Mobley (OAPSE).  During this week, CWA 4320 members found time to make calls from the Columbus Labor 2008 headquarters Monday night, and zone leader Glen Skeen is organizing regular phone banks most nights every week.  Contact Sarah Smith (614-441-6162) or Jason Perlman (614-302-4542) to learn about scheduling the phone bank in your area!   Worksite Flyers The following unions ordered 30,690 flyers in the past week: AFT, APWU, BAC, BCTGM, CWA, IBEW, IUPAT, NALC, OAPSE/AFSCME, OPEIU, UAW, UMWA, USW This brings us to a total of 1,689,947 flyers this year! 2. Labor Leader of the Week: Paul LaBuda, BCTGM 19 Click here to go to the blog post with video! Paul LaBuda is President of the Bakery, Confectionery, and Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers local union 19.  The local is based in Cleveland and it counts about 5,000 men and women in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia as members.  Most work in bread manufacturing. BCTGM 19 and an IBT local were working under a single leadership in 1971 when Mr. LaBuda got a job working in a food warehouse and joined the Teamsters.  He began his career in the labor movement as a shop steward, an organizer, and then a business agent for the locals. He worked his way up, becoming a top leader in BCTGM when the locals split in 1993.  He’s been President of the local for the last seven years.  BCTGM 19 is very involved in this year’s election, and its business agents are working hard to ensure that its political education program reaches all 5,000 members with the information they need.  The local also publishes a quarterly newsletter with a heavy dose of political content, and encourages members to participate in walks and phone banks, and consider contributing to its PAC fund.  Members of BCTGM 19 have signed 1,000 Employee Free Choice Act petition cards, and they are working on 1,000 more.  LaBuda says, “We work ten hour days; we believe you have to lead by example.  We have a very informed membership, and I think that they believe in us.  And that’s very important.” You can see a video of highlights of the interview on our blog at http://labor2008.typepad.com/oh/2008/09/paul-labuda-bct.html. 3. Local Union Spotlight: NALC 385, President John Dyce   Legislative Liaison Helen Hancock and Vice President Dave Ditchey.  In the foreground, partially visible: Trustees Henry Gomez and Mike Sharp. NALC Branch 385, based in Youngstown, Ohio, includes about 800 members.  On Tuesday, its Executive Board was sitting around a table in the branch office putting together a local union mail piece to inform members about their right to vote absentee.  “Sometimes our days run quite long,” said President John Dyce.  “We normally start before the polls open, and often we work right up until late hours so the polls could be closed.”  NALC members understand how crucial this election is, and how vital it is that all working people make their voices heard by voting. Dyce says “the membership is quite active, especially in the last few years,” and in this election, NALC 385 members are working hard to ensure that our next president will be someone who supports public unions and protects public facilities and services from privatization.  The branch turned out eight members to participate in the September 4 walks.  Legislative Liaison Helen Hancock says, “We are under the crunch right now, worried about where our jobs are going to be ten years from now, because of the economy.  We need someone that’s going to back us as union workers.”  To help elect Senators Obama and Biden, Hancock says, “we’re going to do mailings, we’re going to go out on walks.”  Branch Vice President Dave Ditchey says, “We’ve got to continue to keep working for Obama.  When it gets close to the election we’ve got to make phone calls, we’ve got to get out on the street, we’ve got to educate the people that we work with.”  Many union members still don’t know about Sen. Obama, Ditchey said, so person-to-person discussions are key.  “We can have a lot of influence on the workroom floor.”  Check out the video at http://labor2008.typepad.com/oh/2008/09/nalc-branch-385.html 4. Meet Your Release Staff: Kenny Rawls, TWU 208   Click here to go to the blog post with video! Kenneth Rawls is Vice President of TWU Local 208, and he’s currently working as release staff on Labor 2008 in the Columbus office.  He describes his work as “organizing and gathering information from locals, helping organize labor walks,” and participating in walks.  He also worked as a release staff member in 2006.  He says, “The labor movement was very important in the gubernatorial race. The only race we didn’t get was Mary Jo Kilroy, but we’re going to get her this time.” Kenny got involved in political activism because he “saw the importance of how politics matter in the lives of average people.”  He says, “Now is go time.  It’s time for us to mobilize.  We need to get the people that are pro-union elected to office to help middle class people because we are struggling.  We need people in office who will be accountable to our needs.” Rawls began his work as a union officer as a steward.  He has been Vice President of his local for two years, and he is also serving as his local’s Political Coordinator.  In that capacity, he’s making sure TWU 208 members are getting involved and taking ownership of the election through participation in labor walks, phone banks, worksite flyers, and so on.  “They’ll be here in force,” he says.  “I’m always in somebody’s face about that because they need to be involved.  This is one of the most important elections of our lifetimes.” Click here to see Kenny’s call to action: http://labor2008.typepad.com/oh/2008/09/kenneth-rawls-t.html 5. News From Around the State: ALF Updates Northeast ALF Pres. Deborha Bindas In the Northeast on Thursday, union members walked in Akron, Austintown, Canton, Medina, Niles, Salem, and Steubenville.  Walk volunteers found that although many union members are supporting Barack Obama for President, many are still undecided.  OAPSE members at Kent State went out on strike Monday, August 25.  John Wagner (Secretary Treasurer, Tri-County  CLC) and Randy Feemster (President, USW 1123) spoke to strikers.  Call Nanette Folsom for more information; the union invites allies to picket with striking members.  On September 6, USW 1123 held a rally for candidate for Congress John Boccieri.  Activists are also continuing to collect Employee Free Choice Act petition cards. North Coast ALF Pres. Pat Gallagher   Walks on the North Coast took place last Thursday in Avon, Cleveland, and Parma.  Members will walk out of Lake County and the Ashtabula CLC (Pres. Ray Gruber) on other dates.  In Lake County walks are scheduled on October 4 and 11 (contact Darlene Tinsley, 216-299-8975).  In the Ashtabula CLC in North Kingsville, they are scheduled on September 13, 20, and 27; contact Ray Gruber (440-812-1762).  Last week, IAFF 93 (President Chester Ashton), IUPAT 707, NATCA CLE (President Bob Kerr), TWU 2019 (President Fred Fink), UFCW 880 (Jim Carusso, Business Representative), UWUA G555 (Mike Coleman, Business Representative) sent local union mail.  IUPAT members walk in Cleveland every Tuesday.  Sandy Kowalski (USW) organized a phonebank In Cleveland September 3rd and 4th last week.  Release staff in Cleveland are walking on a regular basis to get the word out about Barack Obama.  LIUNA 310 is organizing weekend walks for members.  In the Ashtabula area, Ray Gruber (President, Ashtabula County CLC) is working on several resolutions supporting the Employee Free Choice Act. Southwest ALF Pres. Wesley Wells   In the Southeast, walks took place in Cincinnati, Dayton, and Springfield, and volunteers were not deterred by brief rain.  They got a good response at the door, but they found, as others found around the state, that many people are still undecided.  This highlights the continued importance of the Labor 2008 program.  We must continue to work to reach out to members as they make up their minds in the last couple months before Election Day.  IBEW 82 (Pres. Nick Comstock) is continuing to work on setting up their own phone bank system on a permanent basis.  Organizers are expecting it to be up and running within the next two weeks.  Last Tuesday, activists rallied outside the Dayton Daily News to support CWA-TNG members there, who are still working on getting a good contract.  Local union mail is still a priority in the southwest, and activists are stepping it up to ensure that the message gets out to union members in time.  Zone 3 steering committee meetings take place on the 4th Monday of each month, at 4:00 pm at the Dayton-Miami Valley CLC in Dayton.    Central ALF Pres. Billy Boyce On Thursday, union activists walked in four locations in Columbus, and in Newark out of the Licking-Knox CLC (President Gary Sites).  Labor walks are scheduled out of the Marion CLC (President Ivan Stithem) on the 13th, 20th, and 27th of September.  The next Zone 8 steering committee meeting is September 8, at 6:00 pm on the second floor of the Ohio AFL-CIO headquarters in Columbus.  Right now, the priorities in central Ohio are planning phonebanks Monday through Thursday every week and walks weekly.  Next week, union members will phone bank at the Ohio AFL-CIO headquarters Monday and Thursday.  Southeast ALF Pres. Bill Sams   Members walked on September 4 in Athens, Marietta, and Martins Ferry.  Walks are being scheduled in Cambride, Coshocton, and Zanesville. and Walks continue with OAPSE release staff in Athens.  Northwest ALF Pres. George Tucker   Northwest Ohio activists participated in the September 4 Labor Walks in Ashland, Lima, Mansfield, Norwalk, and Sandusky.  Union members will also walk Saturday, September 20, out of Norwalk and Sandusky.  Another walk is scheduled for the week of the 22nd of September from Laborers 1216 Hall; then on that Saturday there will be an organized walk from 10 am to 3 pm.  Phone banks also ran all week from the Laborers hall in Mansfield, from 10:00 am to 7:00 pm Monday through Friday, as well as Saturday 10:00 am to 3:00 pm.  6. Working America Update, from Dan Heck Working America has had the smoothest transition to persuasion canvassing ever. We have been assessing why undecided members are still undecided, and AFL-CIO member responses are tracking the public polls. Experience remains the top reason members offer for not supporting Obama. We have had a lot of success turning both Working America and union members by discussing what TYPE of experience McCain has, and that he is very experienced at leaving working families out in the cold. McCain's extreme opposition to SCHIP, the State Children's Health Insurance Program, has turned heads in Southwest Ohio among some moderate conservatives. Many Republicans in Ohio crossed the aisle to support SCHIP expansion, and McCain's opposition to it makes it very clear to some folks that he doesn't have their families' interest at heart.   7. Union Jobs  Working America is hiring canvassers and office managers – go to http://www.workingamerica.org/about/jobs.cfm for more information or to apply. The Cincinnati Labor Council is hiring an administrative assistant – go to http://cincinnati.craigslist.org/ofc/683333850.html for more information. CNA/NNOC is hiring a staff person – go to http://www.unionjobs.com/staff/cna/cna101_multi.html for more information.  Posted August 1, 2008.  8. News Clips "New Philadelphia: Obama tells Ohio's working women that he's on their side," WKYC.com Melissa Campbell, President of Local Steelworkers 2737, said Obama's deserves the support of women in the workforce.  "He stands up for working families and we need to get out there and educate (the public)," she said. http://www.wkyc.com/news/politics_govt/politics_article.aspx?storyid=95938&catid=130 "Happy Labor Day. Drop Dead."  Wall Street Journal The business community has opportunities every day to stand up for a "democratic workplace." Why don't the Chamber's member companies just let their workers vote whenever management wants to increase the deductible on their health insurance? Why doesn't the Employee Freedom Action Committee run indignant TV commercials every time a company moves a factory  overseas without first consulting its work force?http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122039870904592899.html?mod=todays_columnists   “Obama Defends Community Organizing,” The Nation "I would argue that doing work in the community to try and create jobs, to bring people together, to rejuvenate communities that have fallen on hard times, to set up job-training programs in areas that have been hard hit when the steel plants closed, that that's relevant only in understanding where I'm coming from, who I believe in, who I'm fighting for and why I'm in this race.” http://www.thenation.com/blogs/campaignmatters/354650/obama_defends_community_organizing       “Labor’s New Push,” The Nation After Labor Day, canvassers for the group will try to contact every Working America member at the door with a field-tested, two-pronged message on behalf of Barack Obama. They'll contrast the positions of Obama and John McCain on critical issues, especially healthcare, but they'll also talk personally about why they're working on behalf of Obama. http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080915/moberg “AFL-CIO Convention Opens in Cleveland,” 90.3 WCPN Before nearly 700 delegates from across Ohio - the leader of the state’s AFL-CIO made clear that he thinks this year’s presidential election is a watershed moment for the nation. http://www.wcpn.org/index.php/WCPN/news/14296/ Visit the web address below to tell your friends about this.  Tell-a-friend! If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for OH Labor Political Program. This message was sent to afltc@sbcglobal.net. Visit your subscription management page to modify your email communication preferences or update your personal profile. To stop ALL email from OH Labor Political Program, click to remove yourself from our lists (or reply via email with "remove or unsubscribe" in the subject line).