Union Voters to be Key in Creating ‘Historic Political Realignment’ in 2008 Elections
The AFL-CIO will activate more volunteers, dedicate more resources and mobilize more voters than ever before to elect a president and candidates up and down the ballot who will champion workers’ issues, the federation’s Executive Council decided at a meeting today in Washington. The Council also unanimously voted to name Arlene Holt-Baker to the office of Executive Vice President, making her the first African-American elected as one of the top three offices of the AFL-CIO.
Holt-Baker will serve out the term of Linda Chavez-Thompson, who announced her retirement last week. Chavez-Thompson has become Executive Vice President Emrita. Holt-Baker, who has more than 30 years of experience in the labor movement, most recently served as Special Assistant to AFL-CIO President John Sweeney. In that capacity she led the AFL-CIO gulf coast recovery efforts.
The Executive Council approved a political budget of more than $53 million to educate, mobilize and turn out voters this year and next. The resources will be spent entirely on grassroots mobilization through an ambitious, sophisticated political program. None of the money approved by the Executive Council today goes directly to candidates.
“Today the AFL-CIO is sending a powerful message that we are going to change the course of our country in 2008 by electing a president and candidates at all levels who are committed to restoring the promise of America to working people,” said Sweeney. “America’s workers are more energized than ever before. They are determined to create an historical political realignment in Washington that will work to rebuild our ailing middle class and restore hope to the millions of workers who have been left behind by seven years of Bush Administration corporate-friendly policies.”
The AFL-CIO said it would activate and deploy more than 200,000 volunteers in 2008. Volunteers will reach out to members and neighbors by going door-to-door, making phone calls, talking to co-workers at their worksites and communicating online with union voters about the issues they’re concerned with: health care, retirement security, good jobs, economic equality, trade policy and the freedom to form and join unions.
"Our members are building an army to make more calls, knock on more doors and turn out more voters than ever,” said AFSCME President and AFL-CIO Political Committee Chair Gerald McEntee. “We're going for the Trifecta: the House, the Senate, and the White House.”
Sweeney said technological and programmatic advances by the AFL-CIO will allow for more efficient and effective outreach to union voters, ensuring they are getting the information they need about the issues they care about. The number of union voters the AFL-CIO will reach is also expected to increase in 2008. Working America, a community affiliate of the AFL-CIO, plans to increase its membership from 1.6 million to 2.5 million by next summer. In 2006, the AFL-CIO’s massive union voter mobilization proved pivotal to shifting the balance of power in Congress. The AFL-CIO mobilized more than 13.6 million voters in 32 states.
In addition to electing a pro-worker president, the federation plans to help gain three to six pro-worker seats in the Senate and add five in the House by focusing on races in union-dense districts. AFL-CIO voters will also expand the ranks of worker-friendly state legislators and governors.
The AFL-CIO has identified 23 priority states for the 2008 elections. Ohio, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin have been identified as top-tier states. In Ohio alone, the AFL-CIO will reach out to more than 1.4 million voters, which includes members of Working America. In 2006, the union vote in Ohio was 28 percent of the overall vote.
“All across the country union voters are going to make the difference in race after key race,” AFL-CIO Political Director Karen Ackerman said. “In 2004, the presidential election hinged on the outcome in Ohio and that outcome went against us. The members of the AFL-CIO and our families aren’t about to let that happen again. We’re going to elect a president who fights for working people by winning Ohio and other states because America’s workers are fed up with an economy that no longer works for them.”
In addition to the budget for the AFL-CIO mobilization, the unions of the AFL-CIO each devote resources to electing working-family friendly candidates. The unions of the AFL-CIO will collectively dedicate an estimated $200 million to the 2008 election effort.
The AFL-CIO has not endorsed a candidate for president. While some individual unions have made endorsements, the AFL-CIO must have a two-thirds consensus among its unions, weighted by membership, to endorse.
At the meeting of the Executive Council, the AFL-CIO also released a report detailing its work in organizing and strategic planning for continued growth. Over the past two years (2004 through 2006), 10 AFL-CIO affiliates have grown by more than 10 percent. AFSCME had the largest net gain in the labor movement, more than 120,000 new members, according to the report. The report is available upon request by calling the AFL-CIO Media Outreach department at 202-637-5018.
Contact: Steve Smith 202-637-5018
