Victory Means Worker Issues Take Center Stage in D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Labor provided the winning margin for Democrats last November and IUE-CWA can be proud of its contribution to that victory.

Division members were active up and down the East Coast, throughout the Midwest and as far West as Texas in a level of mobilization unprecedented for mid-term elections.

"Our members knew what was at stake this election," said IUE-CWA President Jim Clark, who spent the last week getting out the vote in his home state of Ohio. "They understood that we desperately needed a pro-worker Congress or we would have no hope of stemming our job losses or making any progress on key issues like health care and retirement security."

Clark praised the Division's local leadership for taking such an active role in getting-out-the-vote activities.

"I know that mobilizing members isn't always easy, but our local leaders responded to the challenge and got the job done. They deserve all the credit for our big win."

Pro-worker Democrats won a House majority for the first time in 12 years: 233-202. In the Senate, labor-backed James Webb (D) won the last outstanding race over Sen. George Allen (R) in Virginia to produce a 51-49 Democratic edge, including two pro-Democratic independents. However, at press time, the sudden life-threatening illness of Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) left control of the Senate uncertain.

Nationwide, pro-worker gains in legislatures and governorships were the rule, not the exception.

Democrats gained a net increase of six governorships, winning their first majority since 1994. Key victories came in New York, Massachusetts, Ohio and Maryland.

In statehouses, Democrats will control both chambers in 23 states, up from 19.

But what is arguably the largest local gain for unions anywhere in the country came in Minnesota where pro-working legislators gained control of the House and enlarged their margin in the Senate. When the legislature takes office in January a remarkable one out of every six lawmakers will be proud holders of union cards.

"When I started working here I didn't like politics," said Tony Atwood Jr., who has been a member of Dayton, Ohio Local 797 for six years. "But you have to voice your opinion. The government is forgetting about working class folks."

AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney said labor can claim credit for the takeover, since labor provided the winning margin for the Democrats. According to the federation, Democrats had a 6.8-million-vote margin in all U.S. House races nationwide, including uncontested races. Of that, 5.6 million came from unionists, their households and their allies.

"The Republicans have been in office for a long time and I'm not impressed with where the country is," Dayton, Ohio Local 798 member Ralph Perdue said prior to the election in explaining his decision to vote with Democrats. "We can do better."

"I hear from Republicans that they are voting Democratic this year because the Democrats are stronger on job issues," added Warren, Ohio Local 722 President Bob Hewitt. "We have a choice in what the future holds."

Union members and their families and allies were again just over one-fourth of the total electorate, roughly double the union percentage of workers.

More importantly, three of every four (74 percent-26 percent) union members voted for union-backed candidates after receiving the flyers, phone calls, site visits and home visits from their union friends, neighbors and colleagues. Until this election, the AFL-CIO and its allies had never broken the 70 percent barrier.

Union polling showed that GOP scandals and Bush's war in Iraq were not by themselves the issues that turned the election.

AFL-CIO polling found voters linked the war—which large majorities now oppose—with the state of the economy and Bush's general failure to pay attention to their needs on a wide range of issues.

Even though pro-worker majorities control both chambers of Congress, no one expects it to be easy to pass legislation helping America's working class given the slim margins of control. But it will be easy to get that agenda heard and debated.

Key issues expected to see legislative action in 2007 include:

• Minimum Wage. Labor is seeking a $2.10 hourly increase in the wage, which has been stuck at $5.15 for a decade. A 60-cents-an-hour increase would come 60 days after the bill becomes law, followed by a raise to $6.55 an hour the next year and finally to $7.25 two years after the initial increase. Already 28 states and the District of Columbia have a higher minimum wage, including new increases passed by voters in six "red" states last November.

• Employee Free Choice Act. Among other things, EFCA would outlaw anti-union "captive audience" meetings, write card-check recognition of unions into law (some GOPers want to outlaw card check), increase labor law fines and mandate arbitration should the sides not agree on a first contract. Last year, 200 members of the House and 44 members of the Senate had signed on to support the EFCA. At press time, labor was mounting a big push to re-sign those supporters and more.

• Jobs and Fair Trade. Before the new Congress has even taken office, Bush has already lost a trade vote. When Republicans tried to push through legislation for "permanent normal trade relations" with Vietnam in mid-November, they lost on a procedural vote. But the first battle in 2007 will be to halt fast track, which allows the president to bargain trade treaties and send them to Congress for up-or-down votes without change. Thirty-three House seats switched away from "free trade," according to the Public Citizen Trade Campaign. Fast track expires in June. Newly elected Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), who ran on a fair trade platform, says the new Congress will insist "not just on substantive labor and environmental standards in trade pacts, but that they be enforceable." The loss of 260,000 factory jobs in Ohio was a key part of Brown's win. The AFL-CIO is calling for a review of all current agreements so they work to produce "a just global economy, one that works for working families and not just to boost the profits and power of multinational corporations." Programs to reward companies that create jobs at home also will be on the agenda.

• Health Care. Several approaches to extending health care coverage are under consideration. They include extending Medicare to all, creating paid time off under the Family and Medical Leave Act, allowing the federal government to negotiate over the cost of prescription drugs for Medicare recipients and renewing the Children's Health Insurance Program.

• Bankruptcy Laws. Labor wants to tighten the rules so companies can't use bankruptcy as strategy to abandon pension and health care commitments to workers. Protections for employees at a bankrupt company was the top legislative issue (96 percent) cited by workers in the AFL-CIO poll.