Union Households to Vote Big for Dems;
Candidates Mostly Ignore Labor Issues

Both the AFL-CIO and Change to Win are conducting massive voter turnout campaigns, especially in key industrial states, like Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan, and in close election races around the country.

The turnout for the 2006 midterm elections is expected to be unusually high, since its outcome will determine whether the Republicans retain the House and Senate or the control of Congress passes to the Democrats.

It is now clear that Bush’s conduct of the war in Iraq will be the dominant issue in the elections. Republican candidates are in a quandary about how to deal with Iraq, as the bad news keeps coming out of Baghdad: continuing violence, the rising death toll of American soldiers (103 in October) and corruption scandals. The Democrats are split on what to do about Iraq, but united in condemning Bush’s war policies. Iraq will remain a tormenting problem, no matter who wins the election.

The AFL-CIO has been basing its election campaign exclusively on domestic issues, but these have been submerged by the nasty negative ads that have increased in number in the final weeks of the campaign. Democratic candidates have feasted on the corruption and sex scandals involving Republicans, but have found no time to discuss such issues as childcare, women¹s rights, tuition costs or the plight of the homeless.

Hardly any candidate has had anything to say or propose on labor’s five priority issues: health care, retirement income, the minimum wage, outsourcing of U.S. jobs, and the right of workers to join a union.

When a few did discuss health care, pensions, or the minimum wage, the best they could do was to define the problem, not propose a solution. And they had nothing to say about what to do about outsourcing, nor did they publicly pledge to promote worker rights. Instead, they debated stem cell research and same sex marriage, issues on which Bush’s conservative base have strong views.

As in the 2004 presidential elections, the role of organized labor was pushed into the background. Democratic candidates did not want to be closely associated with union leaders lest they be seen as “captives” of labor.

Why Didn't Labor Publicize It’s Message Nationwide?

Since the mainstream media was largely ignoring unions in their reporting of the election contests, why didn’t the AFL-CIO conduct a publicity campaign of its own, with full-page ads in the nation’s most influential dailies and the purchase of airtime on radio and television? What better time to reach out to the American people with labor’s legislative agenda than during this election period!

With $40 million allocated by the AFL-CIO for the 2006 elections and millions more from affiliated unions, surely there were enough funds to send out well-crafted advertising messages about unions to the nation’s unorganized workers. Why wasn’t it done?

For years, labor leaders were content with supplying loads of money and thousands of volunteers to Democratic candidates, demanding nothing in return, even when they won.

It’s time to change that policy. Organized labor, despite its dwindling membership, is a major vote-getting political force, and it should not be reticent about demanding a price for its support.

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