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Thanks to massive corporate spending, Nov. 5 was the most expensive off-year election in history. And although Big Business
continued to far outspend working-family advocates—by 12–1 in hard and soft-dollar contributions in this election—the AFL-CIO political program included the most extensive member
contacts ever in a mid-term election, according to an election night survey of union members conducted by Peter D. Hart Research for the AFL-CIO. The program emphasizes member-to-member education about where candidates stand on issues important to union members.
In battleground Senate races, 72 percent of union members voted for the Democratic candidate, with similar results in U.S.
House races. This margin is consistent with voting trends for union members in 1998 and 2000, according to Hart Research. As of Nov. 6, union voter turnout rates were not available due to a failure in
the Voter News Service tracking system reported widely in the media.
“I was out traveling the last two months...and I can tell you union members were energized and focused on working-family
pocketbooks issues—economic issues, heath care, corporate accountability and more,” AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said at a Nov. 6
press conference announcing the survey results.
Added Sweeney, “I think my experience parallels what we learned in our election night survey of union members....Voters
in general, and working people in particular, are deeply dissatisfied with the economy. The reality of the economy is clear to working people, and they made it their priority on Tuesday...but in our
survey, union members said they do not think either party has a plan to strengthen the economy."
"There's a clear message coming out of this for Democrats: they have to have a strong economic message for 2004,"
Sweeney said.
When asked what was important in their choice of a candidate for Congress, 54 percent of those surveyed answered
“issues,” followed by 26 percent citing “personal qualities” and 16 percent naming party affiliation. And of the 54 percent who said issues were most important, 70 percent voted
for the Democratic House candidate, with 72 percent choosing the Democrat running for Senate.
“We don’t believe Republicans have any plans to restart the economy—their agenda is the agenda of special
interests in Washington, not the interests of working families,” said AFSCME President Gerald McEntee, chair of the AFL-CIO Executive Council’s political committee.
When members were asked the two top issues affecting their choices in House races, pocketbook issues prevailed. Forty-four
percent surveyed named the economy and jobs, followed by health care and prescription drugs with 34 percent and 25 percent naming Social Security. Terrorism and national security ranked fourth with 24
percent.
These results tallied with Labor 2002’s emphasis on corporate accountability—especially the AFL-CIO’s
“No More Business As Usual” campaign calling for the election of candidates who would protect workers’ rather than CEO interests on such issues as retirement security and affordable
health coverage, including a Medicare drug prescription benefit. “I met one-on-one with members nationwide,” said AFL-CIO Vice President Linda Chavez-Thompson,“ and I heard continually
about unaffordable prices for health insurance, prescription drugs and the idea of giving pink slips to candidates who don’t work for corporate responsibility. We were not off target, and the
message was these issues belong on the nation’s agenda.”
But Big Business was busy spending wildly to ensure its agenda during the 2002 election cycle. According to the Federal
Election Commission, as of Sept. 9 it had outspent worker-friendly advocates by 12–1 ($710 million to $62 million), up from 9–1 in 1992. Drug companies bankrolled 2002 issues television spots
congratulating members of Congress who voted for their plan to privatize a prescription drug benefit for seniors. By Sept. 9, the drug companies alone contributed $18 million to candidates and parties
and spent more than $16 million on television issue ads. “Corporate interests have been salivating at the prospect of seeing their entire agenda enacted,” says McEntee. “Their wish list
includes possibly speeding up tax cuts, substantial nationwide limits on the amount of damages that can be awarded in medical malpractice cases, plus a major overhaul of the tax code to reduce the
‘burden’ on corporations,” said McEntee.
Unions fought back with people power and education about the issues—and the survey confirmed the effectiveness of that
program and members’ sizable support for it.
When asked whether “unions need to invest time and money in politics and legislation today, to counter the influence that
corporations and wealthy special interest have,” 73 percent of members agreed, up from 69 percent when that question was asked in 2002. Even a majority of union members who voted for Republicans
who were not endorsed by their union supported the work their union did to get out the vote. Focusing on 25 governors races, 16 Senate races, 47 House races and targeted competitive state legislative
races during the 2002 election cycle, grassroots activists had the assistance of 750 AFL-CIO and affiliate union staff members to guarantee union members understood the issues and made their voice heard
at the polls. They handed out nearly 17 million worksite leaflets, made 5 million phone calls to union members, sent 15 million pieces of mail and put 4,000 political coordinators in the field. On
Election Day nearly 225,000 union members volunteered to get out the vote.
Speaking at Wednesday’s press briefing via satellite video, coordinator Gloria Lynn—a Texarkana Central Trades and
Labor Council president and Steelworkers Local 752 member who helped elect Arkansas’s new Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor and coordinate local get out the vote efforts—emphasized the effectiveness
of communicating with members about where the candidates stood on the issues. “Everyone got at least five pieces of mail and at least two phone calls,” she said.
Also speaking via satellite from Arkansas was Trena Smith—a United Food and Commercial Workers Local 2008 member in
Little Rock—who said the issues that most resonated with members in her region were affordable health care, wages and benefits and prescription drug coverage under Medicare. Active in her
state’s Labor 2002 campaign, Smith leafleted worksites, met with union members, worked phone banks, mailed campaign literature, attended rallies and urged members to vote on Nov. 5.
“While we can’t match business when it comes to money, we do have people power,” said McEntee. One of those
tens of thousands of activists is Michael Spreng, a Plumbers and Pipe Fitters member elected Tuesday as a Democrat to the 76th District of the Missouri House of Representatives. Spreng is now one of more
than 2,600 union members who hold elected office, with the AFL-CIO now aiming to elect 5,000 to office.
“My father was an auto mechanic and UAW member, so I learned early about the issues that matter to union members,”
Spreng said via satellite. “Now I’m going to work to protect them.”
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