http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/18276By Dick Meister July 27, 2008
Organized labor is making certain Barack Obama and other Democratic candidates will have plenty of foot soldiers to help them round up votes on this year's campaign trails.
The AFL-CIO has already launched what is likely to be the biggest and most intensive political mobilization in labor history. The federation is hoping to play a major role in electing Obama president and in electing enough other Democrats to create a "worker-friendly Congress."
Thousands of volunteers, many going door-to-door, are slated to spread the word among union members and others. They'll be speaking urgently of a need to replace anti-labor President George Bush with pro-labor Obama rather than anti-labor John McCain, and to increase the Democrats' Senate margin by enough to block Republican filibusters of pro-labor legislation.
Labor aims to turn out more than 13 million voters - union members, their families, retirees and others - in two-dozen key states, where volunteers also will campaign for labor supporters who are seeking state and local offices.
The AFL-CIO isn't going it alone. It's being joined in campaigning for Obama and in developing other common political strategies by members of the rival Change to Win federation. That powerful group is made up of seven unions, including some of the country's most militant and influential unions, that left the AFL-CIO in 2005 over policy and operational differences. For now, the labor forces are concentrating on Obama, who has promised to be one of the best friends unions have ever had in the White House.
The feelings are mutual. The AFL-CIO says Obama "has advocated a change of direction for our nation that mirrors the priorities of the labor movement .... He has vowed to fight for working families and for an economy that works for all - and he has the record to prove it."
FULL story at link.
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