AFL-CIO Minnesota Labor 2008 Blog

The Senate Recount Continues...

Photos courtesy: Laura Askelin - Top: Recounting ballots; Bottom: SE ALC's Liz McLoone volunteers to recount

Thanks to all union members who are helping with the Senate recount!

So many MN AFL-CIO affiliate members (ALPA, ATU, AFGE, AFM, AFSCME, AFT, APWU, AFTRA, AWIU, BCTGM, CWA, AFA-CWA, GMP, IRON, IAFF,  IAM, IBB, IBEW, ILA, BAC, IUEC, IUOE, IUPAT, Laborers, NATCA, NALC, OPEIU, OP&CMIA, SIU, SMWIA, TWU, TCU/IAM, MNA, UAW, UTU, Roofers and others) have a presence in the Minnesota Senate recount. They are busy making sure every vote is counted.

See WorkdayMinnesota.org for full story!

IBEW’s Bill Heaney was featured in Star Tribune photo gallery.

Retrospective: Minnesota's Labor 2008 Program

Minnesota did its part to elect Barack Obama for President this week. Minnesotans are optimistic about the prospects for turning around America.

Watch participants in Minnesota's Labor 2008 program here:

Labor 2008 Rocks Minnesota

Daily Spotlight: Minnesota AFL-CIO

The Minnesota AFL-CIO, or State Fed, was hard at work promoting this year’s Labor 2008 program. State Fed officers President Ray Waldron and Secretary-Treasurer Steve Hunter made their way around Minnesota for rallies, leaflets, phone banks and door knocks this year.

President Ray Waldron (pictured at left at the Union Veterans kickoff in St. Paul with UAN President Ann Converso) was in Northeast Minnesota for the Duluth Labor Day picnic as well as the Cloquet parade and picnic. At the Duluth event, Waldron told union members that they are each "one in a million” – referring to the Million Member Mobilization supporting the Employee Free Choice Act.

Waldron credits the success of Minnesota's member-to-member labor walks to "activists who believe in what we've done these last 2 election cycles. We've won step by step in these walks ... and the best thing is you meet new union members right in their homes."  

Secretary-Treasurer Steve Hunter is pictured at left at a union and Working America rally outside Sen. Norm Coleman's office. Hunter made the rounds across Minnesota to join hard-working union members in their phone banks,door knocks and worksite leaflets. He said, "This is how we win - through the dedicated action of union activists in the field." Watch the worksite leaflet at the IAM Electrolux plant in St. Cloud.

Daily Spotlight: Building Trades

Minnesota’s Building Trades excel at getting out the vote to their members on the worksites. The union member-to-member program has a unique opportunity to make valuable contact at work. Worksite leaflets are one of the most effective ways that union members can communicate and get out the vote to their co-workers and fellow union members.

LIUNA’s Alejandro Garcia (pictured below) caught several workers on their way in to the jobsite saying “Hey Brothers – have some stickers and vote for Barack Obama!” He said, “We need to get his name out there as much as possible.”

Tony McGarvey – IUPAT Release Staff – said, “I wasn’t always on-board with these worksite leaflets until I came across a table of workers on their lunch break talking about the flyer distribution and talking about the flyer. It really does get them talking and it’s actually very effective.” McGarvey and fellow Release Staffer Don Mullin have been out the past several Friday mornings.

IUPAT’s Don Mullin said, “We really need at least 6 contacts with our union members on these election issues. This is just one of the ways we do it.” He also said, “I think that Fridays are good days for these leaflets because workers are thinking about their paychecks and our economic message hits them harder.”

Heat and Frost Insulators Local 34’s Rudy Martinez said, “not only are you getting the members information, but you are having face -to-face conversations. We don’t just hand out leaflets, we talk with them too.”

The Minnesota Building Trades excel in local union mailings. This year, most of these unions adopted the Minneapolis hard hat sticker program, where local unions mailed hard hat stickers with political messages along with worksite flyers or local union mail to members. The hard hat sticker program is an effective way to get workers talking on the jobsite.

IBEW's Bill Heaney displays hard hat sticker in car window

Duluth Building Trades President Craig Olson stresses the “one-on-one, member-to-member contacts." Bob O’Connor, Business Rep. with IBEW 242 said, “It was real close last time, and it will be this time – that’s why we have to work so hard right now.”

The Minnesota Building Trades’ dedicated activism is sure to pay off this year – thanks guys!

Al Franken - Strong on Working Families' Issues

Senate candidate Al Franken joined 170 union members at a Paul Wellstone Memorial breakfast in St. Paul last Saturday. He said, "I need you running along-side me for the next 10 days! I need you to door knock, I need you to phone bank."

Union members from AFSCME, ATU, AWIU, Education Minnesota, IAM, IUPAT, LIUNA, NALC, SEIU, SMWIA, UA and USW came out to show Franken overwhelming support.

Watch here:

AFSCME Council 5 Executive Director - Eliot Seide

On AFSCME Council 5's Labor 2008 activity:

On the Employee Free Choice Act:

Best Halloween costume goes to...

Andre Ringle - a thirteen-year-old from Pine Island, MN. A friend of activist Mary Bakeberg, he is dressed as a Teachers' Union canvasser.

Daily Spotlight: Iron Workers

Iron workers in Minnesota are busy “focusing on the campaign at hand.” They are active in worksite leaflets, phone banks, door knocks and local union mail. They also signed on to the Building Trades hardhat sticker program where hardhat stickers are mailed to members with flyers and information.

Charlie Roberts, Local 512 Business Agent for Southern Minnesota (left) said, “We’re focusing on the campaign at hand. ... We're doing jobsite flyers with hardhat stickers in support of Franken and Obama. Today, our Business Manager is writing a business letter in support of Barack. We’re going through different flyers, putting in flyers for a mailing.” Local 512 covers all of Minnesota, North Dakota and Western Wisconsin. Their mailings and outreach goes out to the tri-state area.

“The reason we’re getting out literature and flyers is to make sure they are informed and voting on the issues that affect them and other working families.”

Roberts said, issues important to Local 512 members include “health care and retirement. ... Taxed health care is really a big issue for them. It really worries the retirees and the rest of us.” As we know, John McCain proposes a tax on health care, which would strain many working families.

In addition to supporting Barack Obama for President, Iron Workers feel strongly that Al Franken is the best choice for working families in the U.S. Senate. “We spent a whole month on jobsite flyers just for Al. We’re very supportive!”

Roberts said, “We are involved in phone banks, in door knocks, pretty much whatever we can get our hands on.”

Watch here.

Photos here.

AFSCME Council 65's Sarah Lewerenz

Hear from AFSCME Council 5's Legislative and Political Coordinator Sarah Lewerenz below on how AFSCME Council 65 drives the Labor 2008 program.

"We're doing an e-newsletter and we're also doing worksite flyers." In addition to e-newsletters and the critical worksite flyer program, AFSCME Council 65 is phone banking and door knocking to get out the vote on worker-friendly candidates. These are just some of the ways AFSCME Council 65 is "building a stronger union to be more successful."

On the 2008 elections, Lewerenz said, "Wal-Mart telling its employees not to vote for the Democrats because they'll get a union in Wal-Mart. They know what's at stake. The very foundation of the labor movement is at stake."