LaborTalk for October 18, 2006

Volunteers Need Better ‘Talking Points’
For Door-to-Door Canvassing of Voters

By Harry Kelber


The AFL-CIO will dispatch an army of union volunteers to canvass tens of thousands of workers in their homes, communities and job sites, where they will hold one-to-one dialogues on the 2006 elections and explain why it is important to get a big voter turnout for pro-worker candidates.

Union canvassers will have plenty of ammunition by highlighting the well-known, abysmal record of the Bush administration and the Republican-controlled Congress: the huge tax cuts for the rich, the attempt to cripple Social Security, the botched assistance plan for the Katrina victims, the horrible mess in Iraq, an economy that has enriched corporate America, while keeping wages stagnant, the continuing attacks on worker rights and the numerous corruption and sexual scandals involving members of Congress.

Given the current public mood, it is within the realm of possibility that the Democratic Party may regain control of both the House and Senate, although President Bush will remain at the White House for another two years.

But knocking Bush and the Republicans is not enough. Americans can agree that the country is in a mess, but they are still fearful about the future, even if the Democrats were to gain control of Congress. They are not reassured by the vague promise of “a new direction.” They’re not getting satisfactory answers to many questions that trouble them

Does Labor Have a Convincing Message for the Unorganized?

The 2006 election campaign offers the AFL-CIO and Change to-Win a great opportunity to reach out to a multitude of unorganized workers, who are more receptive than usual about hearing what a union activist has to say. Our volunteers, if they do their job well, can win a lot of converts to unionism. But they are going to face a lot of tough questions, for which they should be adequately prepared. A few examples:

Does the AFL-CIO have a plan to provide health-care for the 46 million people who don’t have health insurance? AFL-CIO President John Sweeney says the Federation favors “affordable health-care.” That sounds like an answer that a politician would give. Shouldn’t our volunteer campaigners be equipped with a better answer?

And what about the outsourcing of good-paying U.S. jobs? It’s been going on at least since 1994, when NAFTA went into effect, and its gotten much worse every year. Has the AFL-CIO any practical proposal to halt or reduce the exodus of our jobs? (If any labor leader has an answer to this problem, it would make an important talking point for our canvassers.)

What do AFL-CIO and CTW leaders say about the war in Iraq? Do they agree with President Bush that we should “stay the course until the job is done?” Or would they like to see an exit plan with a timetable for the withdrawal of our troops?

Our volunteer campaigners need specific talking points when such issues as immigration, pensions, childcare and prescription drugs arise during the discussion.

At some point, canvassers should lead the discussion to what workers have to say about their problems, on and off the job. They can then explain why it pays to belong to a union: that millions of workers have improved their wages, benefits and working conditions as members of a union.

It’s essential that canvassers establish a friendly rapport with the workers they visit, and they should make sure to provide them with appropriate union literature when they leave. A brief record of each visit should be kept on card files for possible use in a computer database.

Only two weeks remain before the Nov. 6 elections. Every effort must be made to equip union volunteers with the best talking points to ensure not only a huge voter turnout, but to provide a favorable impression of unions throughout the country.

It’s a great opportunity to strengthen the labor movement for the struggles ahead, no matter what the outcome of the elections, We should make the most of it.

Our two weekly columns (LaborTalk and The World of Labor) can be seen and downloaded at our Web site: www.laboreducator.org.

Harry Kelber's e-mail address is: hkelber@igc.org.




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