AFL-CIO's Obama Endorsement Brings More Bodies And New Risks

On Tuesday, the AFL-CIO started off its campaign season in a familiar way: endorsing the Democratic candidate Barack Obama. What's shifting, though, is how it plans to participate.

Labor unions have long been a powerful force in Democratic Party politics, primarily in mobilizing their millions of members to turn out at the polls. But this year, labor unions say the mobilization could prove even more powerful, despite recent years of unprecedented -- and largely successful -- attacks from conservative politicians, waning membership and declining public support.

While unions say they can't counter the money that conservative donors have poured into super PACS, they have these groups beat when it comes to arranging for bodies on the ground. The AFL-CIO said it will deploy more members than in previous years -- at least 400,000, as The New York Times reported -- many of them in key swing states, to knock on doors and register voters.

"We will be outspent, but we'll have the resources that we need to do an unprecedented ground campaign," said Jeff Hauser, an AFL-CIO representative.

The controversial 2010 Supreme Court ruling, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, opened the door for political action committees to accept unlimited donations and because of this has received steady criticism from labor unions. The AFL-CIO's president, Richard Trumka, has said the ruling "further tilted the playing field in favor of the 1 percent."

But the ruling also opened a crucial door for union organizers looking to turn out the vote: access to nonunion homes. In 2008, union organizers walking door-to-door were allowed to only visit the homes of other union members -- resulting in their having to travel miles between homes. Now they can visit anyone.

Labor advocates say that on-the-ground canvassing can be more persuasive than TV ads and that this strategy could prove to be a powerful tool for organized labor.

"Mainly the unions are putting out tremendous energy and mobilization to defend their existence," said Nelson Lichtenstein, a labor historian at the University of California, Santa Barbara. "But some of this energy will now be deployed to get Obama re-elected, and we're going to have a real test of whether or not tremendous amounts of money for advertising can sway voters more than hundreds of thousands of people on the ground."

But political organizing experts said that during a time of waning public approval for organized labor, when union members knock on the doors of nonunion homes, it could backfire. A Gallup Poll in August found approval for labor unions near a record low, at 52 percent.

"I think that the potential is there but they need to be very careful in how they choose the homes they visit," said Kevin Arceneaux, a political science professor at Temple University, commenting on the unions' strategy for expansion of a ground campaign.

In his research, Arceneaux has found that in some cases, when voters are reached at home, if they don't trust the group knocking at their doors (such as a union), they may choose to vote for other candidates, even if they support the particular issue raised by the canvasser.

"As an overall strategy, door campaigning can be more effective in increasing voter turnout than TV advertising, but it can definitely backfire," Arceneaux said.

Comments

[Berettasskeeter]

08:58 AM on 03/21/2012

That's so funny! Trumka somehow attempting to make it look as if the AFL-CIO opposed CU, when in fact they supported the decision. How humorous is that!!???
Semper fi

[Pastori Balele]

11:53 AM on 03/15/2012

America, please don't make 2010 mistake voting republican again. You remember how GOP governors abused you. You cried enough. Be careful with Romney. As Mormon, Romney treats Blacks and racial minorities as cursed humans from Cain, Adam and Eve son. Mormonism teaches women belong to the kitchen as baby-factories - no make-up, no caffeinated soda, no dancing, and no pants - only long skirts. Note what his family wears at rallies-all in uniforms. The whole family is radicalized to hate Blacks. I was neighbor with a Mormon who wouldn't let his children talk to me because I was Black. They told me he would kill them if he saw them talking to me. To avoid his contact with me, the professor quit his job and moved back to Utah. Romney is one of those CEOs who shipped his money to Switzerland to create jobs for Swiss people. He mistrusted American - we should mistrust him too. Now he is tells us he wants to create jobs here in US. He is a liar. If you're senior - you may lose Medicare and Medicaid. Romney endorsed Ryan-Care that puts cap of $5,000 on seniors-allow doctors let them die. Romney wants corporations be unelected governmens. "Corporations are people, my friend." Mitt said. Romney does not like to help the very poor. He said recently. That's why we have OWS and other Occupiers. America watch out this Mormon. Your freedoms will be gone. Let's vote for President Obama in November.

[LARRY LOU CHRISTIAN]

07:28 PM on 03/14/2012

A first impression of Obama’s perseverance of loyalty to the AFL-CIO down the road appears to be about as safe as hiring Typhoid Mary for a kissing booth.

It will no doubt surprise you to learn that President Obama, the great patron of the working man, also happens to be the great CEO of one of the least union-friendly shop floors in the nation.

Fact: President Obama is the boss of a civil work force that numbers up to two million (excluding postal workers and uniformed military).

Fact: Those federal workers cannot bargain for wages or benefits.

Fact: Washington, D.C. is, in the purest sense, a “right to work zone.” Federal employees are not compelled to join a union, or to pay union dues.

Fact: Neither Mr. Obama, nor the prior Democratic majority, ever acted to give their union chums a better federal deal.

[Shifu]

07:27 PM on 03/14/2012

The trolls are out tonight. If you are a working person and don't support unions and this President you desere what you get. If you are a woman and don't support this President you really deserve what is coming. If you rely on Social Security and Medicare and don't support this President then you deserve what Ryan and Romeny are about to do to you.

[Berettasskeeter]

08:59 AM on 03/21/2012

As always, we'll get by just fine without Obama!
Semper fi

[MrStat1]

06:26 PM on 03/14/2012

This is exactly why I want nothing to do with a union. They tell me that in order to have a job I have to join a union, then the union takes the money I work hard for and gives it to and supports candidates to which I am diametrically opposed. The unions can go screw themselves!

[annyp]

05:08 PM on 03/14/2012

The GOP have caused such a riff between union and non union workers in the country, with the anti-union sentiment, people will vote GOP for no other reason than because. Kind of sad that people don't realize what the unions actually did back in the day, give us worker rights we all share today. How do we get rid of this civil war with non union and union, when all we want is a fair wage for a the work that we do. Everyone wants the same thing, so we all should work for that common goal.

[billhodges]

01:25 PM on 03/14/2012

At the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s regular press conference last week, spokesperson Liu Weimin’s revealed that Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao was awarded ”the Best Friend of American Worker” by the US International Longshoremen’s Association. The Chinese ambassador to the United States reportedly received the award on his behalf

[rda1911a1]

11:53 AM on 03/14/2012

Wow Obama getting a union endorsement how amazing. It's almost like the stimulus package was a payoff to unions. Well that's just silly. luckily now the Supreme court with the citezens united decision has allowed companies to compete with unions on an even footing in politics. Although unions are still out spending corporations some parity has occured

[Ed Baker]

11:20 AM on 03/14/2012

Yet another reason to keep my checkbook closed this year.

"Hope? Change? Yes We Can? Give me a break! I’ve got news for all the latte-drinking, Prius- driving, Birkenstock-wearing, trust fund babies crowding in to hear him speak! This guy won’t last a round against the Republican attack machine. He’s a poet, not a fighter."

[Dh Barr]

10:09 AM on 03/14/2012

AFL-CIO endorses Obama? What a surprise - NOT.

I wonder how many people in the AFL-CIO know that:
At the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s regular press conference last week, spokesperson Liu Weimin’s revealed that Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao was awarded ”the Best Friend of American Worker” by the US International Longshoremen’s Association. The Chinese ambassador to the United States reportedly received the award on his behalf.
The International Longshoremen’s Association, an AFL-CIO affiliate, has not publicized the award. It is not mentioned on the ILA website, nor has it been reported in the American main-stream press. The Longshoremen did not return a request for comment.
The Chinese-government-backed China Daily, however, in an anti-GOP article, reported on the award and recognized the diplomatic relationship between the union and the Chinese government.

[notwithmycash]

09:08 AM on 03/14/2012

When union members can't pay cash for gas or food and have to run up their credit cards I hope they are happy the way their union spends their dues. P.S. Looks like a pretty expensive suit Trumpka is wearing.

[4everright1]

08:36 AM on 03/14/2012

would you open your door if you saw trumka through the peephole?

[PARepublican]

08:03 AM on 03/14/2012

If a Union member comes to my house I am going to put them in a straight jacket, right where they belong!

[redonthehead]

07:45 AM on 03/14/2012

Doesn't Trumpka have a desk in the oval office? There is such a disconnect between organized labor and their leadership. Do the rank and file have any say in where and how their dues money is spent? No. Are these union pensions dramatically underwater? Yes. I wonder what Obama promised the unions this time.

[George Picard]

07:32 AM on 03/14/2012

This is one union memeber who will be voting agaisnt Obama.