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Election Contained Some Bright Spots for Working Families

November 4, 2010

Continuing high unemployment and a strong anti-incumbent sentiment cost the Democrats control of the House of Representatives and the seats of many pro-labor senators and governors on November.  But despite the difficult political environment in the months leading up to the election, IBEW activists mobilized their fellow members on behalf of pro-worker candidates. In many races, labor’s efforts weren’t enough to resist the anti-incumbent tide, but in some key races, union members helped tip the balance for union-endorsed lawmakers.

Labor’s efforts fell short in Wisconsin, where Sen. Russ Feingold and Rep. Steven Kagen failed in their re-election efforts, while anti-union candidate Scott Walker won the governor’s race.

Hours after the results were in, Milwaukee Local 2150 member Mike Haak said working families need to concentrate on the future:

Honestly, when I woke up this morning, the first thing I was thinking about getting ready for 2012.

Haak says that unions need to focus on talking to their members about vital political issues year round – not just at election time:

A lot of our members get their news from Fox and listen to people like Rush Limbaugh religiously. We need to get real information to our members about the issues that affect them and their families – fair trade, rights on the job, and creating good jobs.

One of Tuesday’s bright spots was Nevada, where working families played a key role in helping Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid fend off a challenge from Tea-party-backed candidate Sharron Angle.

Says IBEW Nevada political coordinator Cecil Wynn:

Harry couldn’t have done it without labor, simple as that.

Months of phone banking, labor-to-labor walks and workplace leafleting paid off for working families in the Silver State in a big way, helping to defend one of the Senate’s most vulnerable incumbents and setting the stage for 2012 when the state will again be a hotly contested prize for presidential contenders. 

Says the AFL-CIO Blog:

Some 270,162 union members voted for Reid by 69 percent … (a)mong non-union members, Reid lost 49-44.

Angle’s open opposition to programs like Social Security, Medicare and unemployment insurance motivated union members to turn out for Reid. Wynn said:

We’ve got nearly 20 percent unemployment among the trades, so when Angle said the unemployed were spoiled and called for getting rid of jobless benefits, that really riled our members up.

Union voters also played a major role in helping California resist the GOP tide, beating back billionaire gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman. Despite being outspent 86-to-1, union members provided the needed grassroots muscle to help Attorney General Jerry Brown take the governor’s mansion.

Says Los Angeles Local 11 organizer Kevin Norton:

We had a massive ground operation. We made 150,000 calls out of Los Angeles Local 11’s office to union members all over Southern California.

Union members also helped to re-elect Sen. Barbara Boxer, who ran against former Hewlett-Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina.

Union voters also provided the margin of victory for West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin in his campaign against GOP businessman John Raese.

In Pennsylvania, advocates for Rep. Joe Sestak and gubernatorial candidate Dan Onorato were unable to counter the rising tide of voter discontent – despite an airtight ground game and widespread political drive from IBEW activists.

Mike Welsh, Third District International Representative and coordinator for the IBEW’s political efforts in the Keystone State, said:

We had our people on the ground, we just couldn’t overcome what the general population felt. It was an overall hostile political climate. Many independents are willing to swing their votes. They think that if things don’t turn around in two years, they want to force incumbents out. Folks want things to happen really fast in politics, but it usually doesn’t work that way.

With Pat Toomey in the Senate and Tom Corbett in the governor’s mansion, Welsh said that legislation aimed at bolstering working families through the recession and ensuring good wages could face stiff opposition:

The questions now are: do people really want to cut government programs like unemployment insurance for laid-off Americans? How will Toomey and his likeminded colleagues actually create good paying jobs when all they talk about is cutting taxes?

We have to keep members focused on anti-worker issues that may arise with many of our friends gone. We’ve seen it happen before in Pennsylvania.

And in what will come down to a nail-biting finish in Washington, Sen. Patty Murray leads by a percentage point in her re-election race against real-estate investor Dino Rossi.

IBEW members throughout the state waged a massive get-out-the-vote campaign for Murray, who has been instrumental in steering federal money to infrastructure projects that have kept union members on the job.

Everett Local 191 fifth-year apprentice and registrar Jodi Howson helped coordinate job site leafleting, phone banking and other efforts to mobilize voters.

Patty Murray has always been a friend to the IBEW. She’s fought to keep Boeing here – she makes sure that jobs and tax dollars stay in our state. Murray works hard for working people.

Rossi, a former state senator, voted with working families on their most important issues only 6 percent of the time during his tenure, according to the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO. Some of his votes favored cutting benefits for employees who lose their jobs through no fault of their own, repealing workplace safety rules and reducing workers' compensation benefits for job-related injuries.