|
Dear Ohio labor leaders,
With twenty-six days until Election Day – and with over a week of early voting behind us – we are running on all cylinders and we need to keep it up. At the Dayton pre-GOTV rally, AFL-CIO Secretary Treasurer Rich Trumka said, "It's pretty clear that the economy isn't working for working Ohioans. We need a change. You can help us by sending mail, by leafleting, by doorknocking in your communities. Help us elect Barack Obama, and we'll have a better America on November 5th." We do need union people to come out to the walks and the phone banks and make sure we get this done.
Tuesday night, we saw Sen. Obama talk many of the issues that are most important for working families, like reducing fuel costs and creating jobs by investing in energy independence, like making our health care system work for all of us, and rebuilding our nation together. We saw someone we can trust. We can trust him to help us move forward, to pass the Employee Free Choice Act so workers have the freedom to form unions, to love our country as much as we do and to fight for its future. What a refreshing thought!
Around the state, union activists are fighting for its future, too. They’re talking to fellow members at worksites, on the phone banks, on walks, and by sending local union mail. Our Ohio AFL-CIO President, Joe Rugola, is fighting for it by walking hundreds of miles in a trek from closed factory to closed factory that began Sunday.
Joanne Johntony, President of OAPSE, is fighting for our future in the Mahoning Valley and around the state, and Brenda Barton (NALC), our release staff profile, is working as a labor walk coordinator to give union members the tools they need to fight for it. And LIUNA 329 is fighting for our future by fighting racism and talking to Laborers about Barack Obama’s policies and the real issues we’re facing this year.
It’s certainly a good time to fight, and we’ve got a lot at stake. Thanks to everyone who’s making it happen this year for Sen. Obama and other candidates who will put working families first. We owe our future to you.
In solidarity,
Ben Waxman, AFL-CIO Labor 2008 Ohio Director
Jeanette Mauk, Ohio AFL-CIO Field Director
- Program Report Card
- Ohio AFL-CIO President Joe Rugola on the “Road to Recovery”
- Pre-GOTV Rallies: Final Rally on October 9
- Ohio AFL-CIO Organizes Roundtable Discussion with Gov. Strickland
- Labor Leader of the Week: Joanne Johntony, OAPSE
- Local Union Spotlight: LIUNA 329
- Meet Your Release Staff: Brenda Barton, NALC
- News From Around the Buckeye State: ALF Updates
- Working America Update, from Dan Heck
- Union Jobs
- News Clips
1. Program Report Card
 |
| Mike Murphy (IUPAT) phone banks in Columbus |
Phone Banks
Predictive dialer: This week, the dialer is in Dayton through Wednesday. Next week the dialer will be in Toledo at APWU 170. You can contact Sarah Smith (614-441-6162) or Jason Perlman (614-302-4542) to learn about scheduling the phone bank in your area!
These unions participated in phone banks last week: AFSCME, AFT, APWU, ATU, BCTGM, CNA, CWA, IUE-CWA, IUPAT, LIUNA, NALC, NATCA, OPEIU, SMWIA, TWU, UAW, UMWA, USW.
Worksite Flyers
In the last week, the following unions have ordered 924,268 flyers for worksite handouts, local union mail, and walks: AFSCME, AFT, AGMA, APWU, ATU, BAC, BCTD, BCTGM, CWA, GMP, IAFF, IAM, IATSE, IBB, IBEW, IRON, IUEC, IRON, IUOE, IUPAT, NALC, NATCA, NPMHU, OPCMIA, OPEIU, ROOFERS, SMWIA, TWU, UA, UAN, UAW, UMWA, USW, UTU, UWUA.
This brings us to a year-to-date total of 4,271,218 flyers!
Labor Walks
The following unions participated in labor walks last week: AFSCME, AFT, APWU, ATU, BAC, CBCTC, CNA, CWA, IAM, IBEW, IBT, IRON, IUEC, IUPAT, LIUNA, NALC, NATCA, NPMHU, OCSEA/AFSCME, OPCM, OPEIU, TWU, UA, UAW, UMWA, UNITE-HERE, USW.
Local Union Mail
IAFF, IBEW, LIUNA, and NALC did local union mail last week.
2. Ohio AFL-CIO President Joe Rugola on the “Road to Recovery”
On Sunday, Ohio AFL-CIO President Joe Rugola began what will become an approximately 300-mile trek around the state of Ohio. Pres. Rugola decided to undertake this massive effort to bring attention to the fact that in the last eight years, 1,098 job sites closed down or held mass layoffs. Those shut-downs and layoffs represent about 180,000 jobs that have left our state since Bush took office.
Pres. Rugola is walking to underline Ohio’s great need for a responsible national economic policy, and a concerted effort by our next President to rebuild the American economy and restore jobs to our country. His road is a road to economic recovery – and he’s making it clear that Barack Obama will help lead us down that road, while McCain offers only more of the same policies that have left our state with a 7.4% unemployment rate in August (that’s the highest it’s been in sixteen years).
“Our goal is to highlight and demonstrate to Ohioans that there’s a reason why we’ve lost so many jobs and why our economy’s been wrecked and so many lives devastated,” said Rugola.
His tour began in Youngstown, at an IUE-CWA facility. He walked surrounded by a caravan of cars, the RV in which he’ll rest on the road, and supporters like Barb Phillips, an OAPSE member and President of the Ashland-Wayne-Holmes Labor Council. “I decided to walk today to help Joe bring focus on how many jobs we’ve lost in the state of Ohio. In my heart I believe it’s definitely going to work,” Ms. Phillips said.
You can see more photos from Sunday's walk kickoff by clicking here.
 |
| Bob Baker, International Vice President of ATU, and Rich Trumka, Secretary Treasurer of the AFL-CIO, with ATU activists at the Dayton Pre-GOTV meeting. Click here to see VP Baker talk about the election! |
3. Pre-GOTV Meetings: Getting Ready For the Home Stretch Around Ohio
“We’re moving into the home stretch of this election, and it’s vital that we all unite and work together to elect Barack Obama and other working family-friendly candidates. If we want to see a better future for ourselves and our kids, we can’t afford to give anything less than our best as we finish out these last weeks. The pre-GOTV meetings are a great opportunity to learn about how to help, and get energized for our final push,” said Sam Chilia, International Vice President of IBEW. The only remaining meeting is this Thursday in Cleveland. It will take place from 1:00-3:00 pm at the USW District 1 office at 3421 Independence Rd., Cleveland, OH, 44105. You can see the full schedule of meetings at http://labor2008.typepad.com/oh/pre_GOTV.doc
4. Ohio AFL-CIO Organizes Roundtable Discussion With Gov. Ted Strickland
On September 24, the Ohio AFL-CIO organized a roundtable discussion for union members with Gov. Ted Strickland. It was held at the IBEW 683 hall in Columbus, and moderated by Tim Burga, Ohio AFL-CIO Chief of Staff. Members of CWA, IBEW, NALC, OAPSE, SEIU, TWU, and USW attended and asked questions of Gov. Strickland. The roundtable was covered by several television and print media outlets, including the Columbus Dispatch and Ohio News Now. Participants discussed the issues on working people's minds this year – like health care and strengthening the American economy -- and talked about how the outcome of this year's presidential election could affect those issues. Thanks to the Ohio AFL-CIO for its role in organizing this event and giving union members the chance to speak out. The Ohio AFL-CIO continues to work with Gov. Strickland on many issues.
5. Labor Leader of the Week: Joanne Johntony, OAPSE
 |
| Click here to go to the blog post with video! |
Joanne Johntony is head custodian for Girard City Schools, where she has worked for the last forty-two years. She is President of the Ohio Association of Public School Employees. She also serves on the Ohio AFL-CIO Executive Board, she is a Vice President of the Coalition of Labor Union Women, she is Secretary Treasurer of the Mahoning-Trumbull Labor Council, and she is working on the Labor 2008 program on release. In that capacity, she works with Building Trades, OAPSE, and UAW locals in the Mahoning Valley area.
“Our goal for this valley if Obama gets elected is we will bring jobs back that will keep our children in this valley,” she said. Johntony says education and health care reform are also top priorities: “There’s something wrong with this country when we have people that need medical attention, but they can’t get quality health care, they can’t afford health care.”
Johntony is working with union members northeast Ohio to promote phone banks, walks, worksite leaflets, and local union mail. She believes that member-to-member contact, for instance with phone banks, is a really effective way to educate union members. It’s meaningful because it’s personal.
Johntony has been working to get Employee Free Choice Act petition cards signed, and she says she hopes that will be one of the first pieces of legislation Sen. Obama passes when he is inaugurated. “We think we’ll have the votes in Congress,” she said, “but we need a President who will sign it.”
6. Local Union Spotlight: LIUNA 329
Last Friday, leaders of LIUNA 329 – Business Manager Rick Johnson, Secretary Treasurer Tim Luce-Wireman, and President Robert Stapleton – and several volunteers gathered to put together a local union mailing to go out to the local’s approximately 450 members. “Me and Tim and Robert really stress the issues,” Johnson said. “I’ve got a good team here.”
The mailing included a letter from Business Manager Rick Johnson, a flyer from the Working Families Toolkit about job loss in Ohio, and an application for an absentee ballot. In the letter, Johnson outlined Sen. Obama’s pro-working family policies and said, “I will not vote for or against either candidate because of their skin color. I will vote for Barack Obama because he is the best person for the job.”
Pres. Stapleton said, “Health care and the economy are the number one issues from what I’m hearing.” Luce-Wireman said the loss of jobs from northwest Ohio has been traumatic for the area. “Occasionally, long-time workers have been asked to go to [countries to which their jobs have been outsourced] and to help set up and train the people that are going to be taking their jobs. That’s a pretty rough thing to do,” he said.
In addition to the local union mail, LIUNA 329 participates in phone banks through their international. Its leaders agree that member-to-member contact is crucial, and it’s the most effective way to reach them. Activists in the local have completed their registration drive to make sure members are registered. Now they’re focusing on helping members learn about early voting, and encouraging them to do so to make sure that they get their vote cast regardless of how many hours they work on November 4.
7. Meet Your Release Staff: Brenda Barton, NALC 78
Brenda was on release from her union, the National Association of Letter Carriers, in 2006 and in the primaries this year. Now, she is working as a walk coordinator for the Labor 2008 program statewide. She processes walk requests, generates walk product, and compiles walk schedules, among other tasks.
A Hillary supporter in the primaries, Barton said she had no problem deciding to support Sen. Obama in the general election because she shares his ideals. “Barack Obama is energetic, he’s incredibly intelligent -- it’s very easy for me to support Barack Obama.” She said she hopes an Obama presidency will help strengthen the labor movement and ensure that workers get the respect and consideration they deserve, after years of an anti-worker administration.
Barton was born in Cape Canaveral, Florida, the daughter of an Air Force member who worked on the space program. She joined the Army to help pay for college and became a member of the Military Police Corps serving in Hawaii. She joined the Postal Service after she finished her commitment to the military, and has been a member of NALC for 23 years. She says it is because of her union that she receives the same rate of pay as male letter carriers.
8. News from Around the Buckeye State: ALF Updates
Northeast ALF
Pres. Deborha Bindas
APWU, CWA, IUE-CWA, NALC, and USW worked on the phone banks in the Northeast last week. Members of AFSCME, AFT, APWU, CWA, IBEW, NALC, UA, UNITE-HERE, and USW volunteered on the labor walks. IBEW 246 and NALC 385 sent local union mail last week, along with eleven IAFF locals. CWA and IBEW locals did worksite flyers. Activists are walking out of the NALC 148 office at 518 Souse St. in Akron Monday through Thursday at 2:00 pm, and on Saturdays at 10:00. Walks and phone banks continue regularly out of the USW Golden Lodge in Canton and the AFSCME Council 8 Office in Akron. The Mahoning-Trumbull CLC (Pres. Bill Padisak) is helping fund and organize phone banks Monday through Thursday, which will begin soon. OAPSE members at PARTA went out on strike Monday, August 25. Joe Rugola (President of the Ohio AFL-CIO), Richard Trumka (Secretary Treasurer of the AFL-CIO), and Jim Wasser (IBEW, spokesman for the AFL-CIO Union Veterans Council) spoke to the men and women on the picket line last week. Call Nanette Folsom for more information (330-933-8651); the union invites allies to picket with striking members. The Golden Lodge (USW 1123) is planning rallies for October 15, the night of the last presidential debate, and Election Day.
North Coast ALF
Pres. Pat Gallagher
AFSCME, AFT, APWU, ATU, CWA, NALC, and LIUNA members worked on phone banks in the north coast area. Members of AFSCME, AFT, APWU, ATU, BAC, CBCTC, CNA, CWA, IAM, IBEW, IBT, IUEC, LIUNA, NALC, NATCA, OPCM, OPEIU, TWU, UA, UAW, UNITE-HERE, and USW volunteered on walks. Union members are walking in Cleveland every Saturday. In Lake County a walk is scheduled October 11 (contact Darlene Tinsley, 216-299-8975). IUPAT members walk in Cleveland every Tuesday. LIUNA 310 is organizing weekend walks for members. Activists are also gearing up for the Cleveland pre-GOTV meeting on October 9.
Southwest ALF
Pres. Wesley Wells
Members of the following unions volunteered on the phones in the southwest last week: AFSCME, AFT, APWU, ATU, CWA, IBEW, IUE-CWA, LIUNA, NALC, NATCA, OAPSE. These unions walked: AFSCME, AFT, AFTRA, APWU, ATU, CWA, IAM, IBEW, IRON, LIUNA, NALC, NATCA, NPMHU, OPEIU, OCSEA, IUPAT, UA, UNITE-HERE. Cincinnati and Dayton’s Pre-GOTV meetings were held Wednesday; Bob Baker, International Vice President of ATU, Richard Trumka, Secretary Treasurer of the AFL-CIO, Joe Rugola, President of the Ohio AFL-CIO, and Jim Wasser, IBEW member and spokesman for the AFL-CIO Veterans Council, were in town for those meetings. Walks for union members are staged out of the Dayton-Miami Valley CLC Monday through Thursday and Saturday every week. Eight union release staff members are walking daily in Hamilton and Butler counties, and AFSCME Council 8, APWU 164, and IBEW 212 are hosting phone banks in the Cincinnati area. September 30th was the Ohio ARA Retiree Luncheon. Over 125 union retirees attend the luncheon. Max Kenney, George Kourpias, President of ARA, CD 1 Candidate, Steve Driehaus, and CD 2 Candidate Vic Wulsin addressed the crowd. The retirees of the ARA endorsed both candidates. October 1 was the Pre-GOTV Rally. October 1 was also “Meet the Candidates” night. Over 125 union members and their families attend the Cincinnati AFL-CIO Labor Council Annual Meet the Candidates Night. Over 15 endorsed candidates addressed the crowd and spoke on issues that are important to working people, like fair wages, affordable health care, and secure retirement.
Central ALF
Pres. Billy Boyce
Members of BCTGM, CNA, CWA, IUPAT, NALC, OFT, TWU, and USW volunteered on the phone banks. Members of AFSCME, CNA, CWA, IBEW, IUPAT, and TWU participated in the labor walks. Saturday walks continue every week out of the Central Ohio CLC office at 1545 Alum Creek Drive and the Council 8 Columbus office at 6800 N. High St. Zone activity in zone 8 consists of Phone banks every day with release staff, and in the evenings with various unions. There are also walks daily with release staff. Worksite leaflets continue at top fifteen Building Trades job sites, and IAM is also working on leafleting central Ohio sites.
Southeast ALF
Pres. Bill Sams
In the southeast, NALC and UMWA members phonebanked last week. Members of AFSCME, CWA, IBEW, IUPAT, NALC, OPCM, and UMWA volunteered on labor walks. IBEW, IUPAT, NALC, and several UMWA locals did worksite flyers last week. Tim Bowman at NALC 63 in Zanesville is organizing walks and phone banks on most days for union members in the area. The UMWA District Office is holding phone banks for union members in the Bridgeport area. A special meeting of the SE ALF/CLC will be held on Thursday, October 9 at AFSCME Ohio Council 8 office located at 36 S Plains Rd., The Plains, Ohio. We want to get together as a group one more time before the election. Zone 10 release staff participated in voter registration drive with AFSCME Ohio Council 8 at Ohio University & Hocking College on Thursday, October 2. Approximately 100 people were registered at these 2 locations. Tim Baker & Orley Vore with UMWA have been released in Zone 10. Tim has been active with walks, worksite flyers & local union meetings with several mine worker locals in Southeast Ohio. Dan Leslie and Troy Ferrell (IBEW) have been leafleting and walking in Washington and Monroe counties. IBEW 972 has the predictive dialer set up in its hall; members from around the zone will be able to use it. UMWA members have been in all parts of the Zone from Marietta to Coshocton to Zanesville, doing walks, worksite leaflets, and phone banks. AFSCME and USW have been working on local union mail.
Northwest ALF
Pres. George Tucker
AFSCME, AFT, APWU, CWA, IBEW, IUPAT, NALC, OPEIU, SMWIA, UAW, and USW worked on the phone banks in the northwest last week. Members of AFSCME, AFT, APWU, CWA, IBEW, IUPAT, NALC, UAW, and USW participated in labor walks. LIUNA 329 did local union mail last week. Zone steering committee meetings for Zone 1 take place every Friday at 10:00 am at Toledo Federation of Teachers (AFT 250) office in Toledo. Phone banks are open at the Lima UAW hall at 1440 Bellefontaine Ave. Monday through Thursday all day, from eleven in the morning to eight at night. Max Reynolds, a retired UAW member, comes in to make calls on the phone bank almost every day, making 180-200 calls every time. IUPAT members Gary McPheron, Brian Outland, and Jamie Peppers, and NALC 143 President Jeff Kranz are walking weekly. Walks and phone banks are ongoing in Mansfield at LIUNA 1216 and Sandusky at LIUNA 480. In zone 2-West, OAPSE members are phone-banking on Tuesdays, while UAW members are walking on Tuesdays. The Pre-GOTV rallies in Toledo and Lima took place last Thursday. Richard Trumka and Bob Baker, International Vice President of ATU, spoke in Toledo, and Ohio AFL-CIO President Joe Rugola and IBEW member and spokesperson for the AFL-CIO Veterans Council Jim Wasser spoke in Lima.
9. Working America Update, from Dan Heck
Working America has now knocked on over 200,000 doors across the state, and we are continuing to hire motivated folks who want to fight for change in all of our offices.
We’ve also just been prominently featured with a great story in the Wall Street Journal. Who would have thought. Take a look! http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122333633242509583.html
We’ve seen an up tick in the number of members identifying the economy as their top issue across the state, which is in line with the national polling. When people do identify the economy as their top issue, we work to dig deeper and identify something more specific, such as gas prices, trade, the recession or home foreclosures. In general, even when we dig deeper, the most common response is still a general one. “All of the economy -- it’s just everything.” Members are feeling overwhelmed with it, but don’t put too fine a point on it?the whole thing is a mess. Among our undecided members, by far the most common reason they are undecided is because they don’t feel they have enough information to decide. Many of them watch the TV and read the papers, but feel they can’t trust anything -- they can’t cut through the media haze and find what is real. These points underscore why we’re seeing Working America and union members move the more we and our fellow AFL-CIO members contact them: folks get confused by the haze produced by the right wing. Some REAL straight talk from union and Working America members helps them get real information from a source they trust, and from a person whom they just had a real conversation with. It makes all the difference, we are grateful that there are so many others in the labor movement out walking alongside us, carrying this message. The more high quality contact, the better.
10. Union Jobs
Working America is hiring canvass organizers – go to http://www.workingamerica.org/about/jobs.cfm for more information or to apply.
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.
11. News Clips
“AFL-CIO ‘Road to Recovery’ Tour Stops Here at 8 A.M. Tuesday,” Canton Repository
To highlight the economic difficulties many Ohioans face and help draw attention to more than 180,000 Ohio jobs lost, Ohio AFL-CIO President Joe Rugola said that he will walk through regions of Ohio hardest hit by the economic policies of the last eight years.
http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?ID=434786&Category=9&subCategoryID=0
“Undecided in Ohio: As Democrats Seek to Seal Union Vote in Mahoning County, Race Bubbles to the Surface,” Wall Street Journal
On Sunday, he accompanied a group of union members who began a 300-mile walk to highlight the job loss around the state. Their walk coincided with the release of a report by the Ohio Democratic Party and the Ohio Campaign for Change showing that 1,087 companies and factories have shut down or had mass layoffs since President Bush took office in 2001, costing 180,264 Ohioans their jobs. Those are their cards, Mr. Abercrombie says. A vote for Sen. Obama is the only smart way to play them.
http://blogs.wsj.com/undecided/2008/10/06/as-democrats-seek-to-seal-union-vote-in-mahoning-county-race-bubbles-to-the-surface/
“AFL-CIO President Tour,” 33 WYTV
You might have seen a group of Barack Obama supporters walking through parts of the valley today. The group was part of the "Road to Recovery" Tour which will hit nine cities in Northern Ohio in the coming days. It's part of the AFL-CIO President's attempt to draw attention to what he calls "Failed Republican Policies" saying that these policies have cost Ohioans 180 thousand jobs in the last eight years. The group stopped at closed plants along the way, including the General Electric plant on Meridian Road and Indalex in Girard.
http://www.wytv.com/news/local/30493734.html
“Unions seen as key to victory for Obama,” Youngstown Vindicator
A well-coordinated effort by organized labor of its members could go a long way toward getting Democrat Barack Obama elected president.
http://www.vindy.com/news/2008/oct/05/unions-seen-as-key-to-victory-for-obama/
“Public funding limits pushed McCain out of Michigan,” The Hill
The AFL-CIO conducted a massive effort to introduce Obama as a friend of the working class to union households in Michigan. Democrats and labor unions have also made it a central part of their strategy to claim that McCain represents a continuation of President Bush’s economic policies. That tack appears to have proved effective in Michigan. Rep. Thad McCotter (R-Mich.) said McCain was hurt in Michigan by how its economy has fared under the Bush administration.
http://thehill.com/campaign-2008/public-funding-limits-pushed-mccain-out-of-michigan-2008-10-04.html
“Labor Rally,” 33 WYTV
Tonight thousands of laborers from several union came together at McMenamy's for a rally to support Barack Obama. They say the candidate represents the middle class and Obama will help make Ohio a better place to live.
http://www.wytv.com/news/local/30499199.html
|
Tell-a-friend!