On Election Day, we saw the power in a union. In California, Ohio, New Jersey and Virginia, working families mobilized by unions voted for workers’ rights, good jobs and a continuing voice in politics and legislation—and we won.
We won for two reasons: First, because we advocated positions and candidates to serve the economic interests of working families; and second, because unions are incredibly effective in reaching members with good, solid information about candidates and initiatives and turning out union household voters.
The results speak for themselves:
- In California, we defeated Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s attempt to silence the voice of public workers in politics.
- In New Jersey and Virginia, we elected as governor champions for working families who will fight for good jobs, workers’ rights and affordable health care.
- And in Ohio, we passed an initiative that will bring in good union jobs with good wages.
Our Election Day wins followed an important victory in Colorado, where voters suspended their misnamed Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, the strictest government spending limit in the nation, and gave up more than $3 billion in tax refunds to help the state bounce back from a recession.
These results remind us how important political action is to growing a stronger, larger union movement—and how important a strong union movement is to ensuring politicians are responsive to the needs of working families. In California, there is no question that union mobilization made the difference in beating back Schwarzenegger’s latest attack on unions, workers and the public services they deliver. Firefighters, nurses, teachers and the police united last year to stop Schwarzenegger’s raids on school funding, nurse staffing in hospitals and benefits for the widows and orphans of fallen first responders. When Schwarzenegger launched a revenge campaign in response to their success, union public-sector workers were ready and able to mobilize to stop Proposition 75. And they did.
Powerful efforts to recruit and train union members as candidates for public office have transformed New Jersey, where more than 40 union members were elected to a range of offices Nov. 8. Today, union members serve in powerful leadership positions of both houses of the New Jersey legislature and working families have laws on the books that allow employees not covered by the National Labor Relations Act to choose to be represented by a union by signing authorization cards, prohibit outsourcing of state-funded service contracts, increase the minimum wage, ensure prevailing wages, protect workers’ compensation benefits and more.
In Virginia and Ohio, as well as New Jersey and California, union volunteers shaped the election outcomes by phone banking, precinct walking, worksite leafleting and getting out the vote. It couldn’t have happened without us. More than 400,000 members of union households and the 50,000 new members of Working America—the community affiliate of the AFL-CIO—were a deciding factor in the win for Virginia’s working families, making more than 360,000 phone calls and passing out nearly half a million leaflets to their co-workers. Working America alone had 20 staffers registering voters among its Virginia members and getting out the vote—in addition to more than 1,700 other union volunteers.
As you think about the election results, think about how different America would be today if millions more workers had union contracts and union-made opportunities for political involvement.
In the coming weeks, each of us can join the fight to restore workers’ freedom to form unions and bargain. Right around the corner is Dec. 10, International Human Rights Day—a time for mobilizing workers across the country in rallies, marches, vigils, teach-ins and other events to demand workers’ basic human right to join together in unions. Find out now about how you can get involved by visiting www.aflcio.org/d10.
