As 2008 Dawns, Labor Is Headed For Most Powerful Political Effort Ever

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.laborradio.org/node/7595

By Doug Cunningham

At the dawn of a new, highly-politically charged year organized labor is poised to be a bigger player than ever before at the ballot box. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney says labor’s political clout is stronger than ever.

: “You can rest assured that we will have more people involved in the campaign at the grassroots level than we have ever had. One out of every four voters was a union member or from a union household. And we will be undertaking that kind of campaign, stronger than ever, with more resources than we’ve ever put into a campaign. And I anticipate that, with a little help from God, we will be successful.”

AFSCME alone plans to field 40,000 people to campaign in an “activist army” this year. And the independent National Education Association, the nation’s largest union, will closely coordinate political action with the AFL-CIO, according to the NEA’s Karen White.

: “It really is the beginning of the NEA's new and expanding political program. In 2008, the NEA has dedicated over $30 million to its national political program and will be undertaking one of our largest grassroots mobilization efforts in history."

The AFL-CIO plans to improve upon the successful mobilization campaign during the Congressional election in 2006. The Change To Win labor federation, which includes big unions like the SEIU, the Teamsters and the UFCW, will also be providing plenty of muscle and millions of dollars toward an electoral victory for labor. Change To Win’s Anna Burger says polling shows an overwhelming majority of Americans believe corporate power has run amok and the electorate is ready for change.

: “And they believe that having a President that speaks out strongly for the workers' right to have a union will change. And they believe very clearly from the polls that having unions will change their lives."

Labor wants to use political power to transform trade policies and reform labor law to strengthen workers union rights. In 2008 public opinion has shifted toward a more progressive politics, according to pollster Celinda Lake. And Guy Mollineau of Peter D. hart research Associates says a majority of Americans have a much more favorable opinion of unions than in the Reagan era.

: "The attitudes toward organized labor have really changed in a pretty fundamental way. Now only a quarter of the country has what you could characterize in some sense as an anti-union perspective."

All this could add up to a banner political year for organized labor in 2008.

[Rydz777]

1. Good. American labor is in a life or death struggle to save our

industrial base. It's an uphill struggle.