CINCINNATI - After a taste of victory in the last national elections, union leaders are hungry for the chance to elect a pro-labor president.
"We're charged up, and anxious to lay the groundwork for the 2008 elections," said Karen Ackerman, political director of the AFL-CIO.
Leaders of the federation of unions huddled this month in Las Vegas to work on presidential race plans. They call for a myriad candidate and issues forums, culminating with a presidential candidate gathering in Chicago in August.
"The level of activity by union members early in the process will lay the groundwork for the greatest involvement by working people ever in electing the president of the United States," John Sweeney, AFL-CIO president, said at the meeting.
Organized labor spent some $100 million on get-out-the-vote efforts last year, and reached tens of millions of voters by phone calls, mail and door-to-door canvassing on behalf of labor-backed candidates. Labor political action committees contributed $59.5 million for federal candidates, up 11 percent from the previous election cycle and higher than any other industry grouping, federal filings show.
Exit polls indicated union voters chose Democrats by more than a 2-1 ratio, and labor says its supporters made the difference in many of the races that put Democrats back in the majority in Congress.
"Unions retain significantly greater political clout than their numbers indicate," said Harley Shaiken, a professor at the University of California-Berkeley specializing in labor issues. He said there are still significant concentrations of union voters in key electoral states that can swing results.
Some observers say Democrats were helped more by President Bush's sagging approval ratings, voter discontent with the war in Iraq and congressional scandals such as the lobbying corruption case that help oust six-term Rep. Bob Ney, an Ohio Republican. In Ohio, the state that clinched re-election for Bush in 2004, candidates Ted Strickland (governor) and Sherrod Brown (senator) led a Democratic return to prominence with strong labor backing. Exit polls indicated four of five votes from union households supported them.
However, Democrats were also helped by Ohio Republican ethics scandals and by an ineffective GOP gubernatorial campaign.
Herb Asher, an Ohio State University political analyst, said that although unions are now getting a sympathetic airing in Washington for key issues such as legislation to make it easier to organize, it's "very, very important" to them to elect a pro-labor president to help avoid presidential vetoes. He said labor would be comfortable with most of the current Democratic contenders, including the front-runners - Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois and former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina.
But, Asher added, it's become more difficult for organized labor to present a united political front. As its traditional industrial base declines, new members come from the public sector and jobs such as janitors, and a breakaway union coalition includes the Service Employees International Union, which claims 1.8 million members.
Andy Stern, SEIU president, said his union wants to focus the presidential debate on working-family issues such as health care.
"We're asking every candidate to have a meal with one of our families and spend a day at work with them," Stern said. "We want the candidates to appreciate the challenge Americans are facing today."
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AP Researcher Judith Ausuebel contributed to this report in New York.
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On the Net:
AFL-CIO: http://www.afl-cio.org
Change to Win: http://www.changetowin.org
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