Labor leaders gear up for November elections

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Labor union activists in Wisconsin are gearing up for a get-out-the-vote drive over the next two months, leading up to the November election. They plan to concentrate on the platforms of the two major parties, and not the personalities of the candidates.

The sign on the food tent at yesterday’s Labor Fest in Madison reflected the political polarization that’s come to dominate the election debate in Wisconsin over the past year and a half. It read”Democrats- honesty, reason competence, balance. Republicans – death, dread, debt and discrimination.”

Gary Johnsonis a retired technical college anatomy instructor. Hesaysthe challenge for unions is toconvince their members of that distinction if they are to succeed in November.

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“It’s not personalities the republican party seriously this is what they want to do,” he says.”I mean you may think this person is a nice person but this is what they want to do, and you vote for that person and that’s what you’re gonna get.”

What you’ll get, says Johnson, is an erosion of workers’ rights to bargain their wages and working conditions. Carrie Riddle is a City of Madison worker and a member of the Laborer’s Union Local 464. She says the best strategy for electing Democrats is convincing voters face to face.

“I think we should hit the ground some more and get the word out .. hit the ground walk go door to door and I been doing it,” she says.

But Riddle is worried that too many union member don’t share hercommitment to pound the pavement in the coming weeks.

“There really are only a handful of us that go to all this stuff, not enough of ’em, they’re more willing to stay home drink their beer and let us do the work, and we need more people to actually hit the ground,” she says. “We need more people.”

Nationally, unions plan to spend 400-million dollars on the fall election. But activists like Riddle say it’s going to take more than money to get enough union supporters to the polls.