Ignoring split, labor makes election push

One year after America's labor movement saw its largest schism in decades, unions are gearing up for a high-stakes political battle in November.

It's the first test of how the split between the AFL-CIO and the new seven-union Change to Win labor federation will affect the political activities of the labor movement. It's also a chance for unions to demonstrate that they still wield political heft despite dwindling membership.

The coming elections were a key topic at separate meetings in Chicago this week of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and the executive council of the AFL-CIO. In one promising sign for labor's fall push to help Democrats, the rival federations have launched a national committee to coordinate political activities.

"I believe they're going to be reasonably unified, but it's a little bit early to say how well the coordination will work," says Rick Hurd, a labor expert at Cornell University. He notes that the Change to Win affiliates, which represent some 6 million members, may be less likely to do an all-out field operation than they were two years ago as AFL-CIO unions.

Despite fewer members, unions "have become more and more effective at communicating their message to members, and at getting members to vote according to labor endorsements," he adds.

With several key gubernatorial battles and a chance to take back the House and, possibly, the Senate for Democrats, unions see these as particularly critical midterm elections. They're doing their best to prepare:

•The AFL-CIO is dedicating the most it ever has for a nonpresidential election – $40 million – for political mobilization this fall. It has zeroed in on 21 key states to focus on and will be active in more than 200 Senate, House, gubernatorial, and state legislative races.

•AFSCME announced a new initiative this week that, among other things, will create an army of 40,000 volunteers to do political registration and get-out-the-vote work. The union will also aggressively raise funds for its large political action committee and raise membership dues $3 a month to help fill coffers for future elections.

•The AFL-CIO and the Change to Win federation have set up a national labor coordinating committee for political activities. They've agreed to merge member lists, work together on phone banks, walks, and leaflet distribution, and help state and local groups work closely on key elections.

"These elections are really important – they're going to set the tone for the presidential election in 2008," says Edgar Romney, secretary-treasurer of Change to Win and co-chair of the coordinating council. "I think the understanding and attitude is that we're all in this together and we have to win this battle. And whatever differences have evolved at the top, we'll put those aside."

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