Winning Over Ohio's Swing Union Voters

By David Moberg, In These Times. Posted March 18, 2004.

For Dan Radford, head of the Cincinnati Central Labor Council, the presidential campaign started last fall, long before Democrats had a nominee. And it will continue unabated throughout the year with more resources, more determination, more unity and a greater variety of tactics than ever before.

Reflecting the national labor movement's strategy and resolve, Radford's work in his crucial battleground state is based in a profound fear of Bush's re-election -- a fear that already is producing glimmers of hope.

"Working families are frightened of this administration for several reasons," said Radford. "You take the issue of overtime [which could be eliminated for 8 million workers under new Bush administration rules]. They see their safety net being eroded. And they're more attuned to foreign policy. They're frightened about what's happening in Iraq."

Although Bush will try to win conservative areas of Ohio, like Cincinnati, with social wedge issues, labor there is keeping workers focused on kitchen-table issues, such as the loss of jobs, the shift of manufacturing and white-collar jobs overseas, and the growing healthcare crisis. But Radford's local labor movement also is strongly backing an initiative to overturn Cincinnati's unique ban on laws protecting gay rights.

Besides starting earlier, labor will have more than three times as many outside organizers working in Cincinnati, and members are being mobilized to campaign in their workplaces and in their neighborhoods. A pilot project of the AFL-CIO's Working America -- recruiting nonunion households who share labor's general policy goals -- already has signed up 35,000 local members. Other new voter education and registration efforts, such as America Coming Together, have labor support and complement union political activity. The work already has paid off, with a victory in a suburban mayoral race. "I'm more hopeful now than six months ago," he said. "I talked it then. I feel it now."

The determination and muted optimism were evident when the AFL-CIO Executive Council gathered in Florida in March. For working people, there is a crisis in jobs, healthcare, education, retirement security and future economic prospects, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said.

"During this crisis, Bush has been AWOL," Sweeney charged. "Bush has been the worst president for working people in recent memory. He has favored giant corporations over working families at every turn."

But that anger, combined with labor's early, sophisticated and targeted political program, Sweeney said, can help unions play a critical role in John Kerry's election bid.

Refining the Focus

In the 2000 elections, labor households accounted for 26 percent of voters (36 percent in Ohio, which Gore narrowly lost after pulling his campaign out of Ohio in the last few weeks). That clout was the result of AFL-CIO efforts since Sweeney took office to boost registration, educate members on issues and get voters to the polls.

This year labor is refining its program with a new focus on swing union voters -- those who may shift parties or are vulnerable to Republican social issue pitches (on guns or gays, for example). Such members will be among many union members who regularly receive communication "sandwiches" -- phone calls from union volunteers, followed by mailings, followed by calls discussing the mailing. The union pitch on economic issues makes a difference. Firefighters President Harold Schaitberger, the major early labor backer of Kerry, said that even though 44 percent of his members identify as Republican, roughly 62 percent to 64 percent have backed union-supported Democrats in recent elections. Already this year, he said, union political education had boosted Kerry support among members by nearly 15 percentage points.

This sophistication and the campaign's early start will be backed up by a more sustained effort. Union leaders at the executive council approved a special assessment that should bring in an additional $6.5 million for political work this year, boosting AFL-CIO spending to at least $44 million, an increase of several million from 2000. In addition, individual unions will be spending even larger amounts both mobilizing their members and supporting candidates. The Service Employees Union (SEIU), for example, plans special assessments that will raise $60 million for political work, three times the union's expenditure in 2000, in addition to contributions from members to the union political fund -- an anticipated $11 million that can be used for candidate contributions or broader political work. Many unions also are more aggressively recruiting members for volunteer work. SEIU will pay 2004 "hero" volunteers to leave their jobs and spend from two to six months working in the 16 battleground states.

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