Labor & Employment Law

Reid, Manchin, Quinn Tell Executive Council Union Support, Jobs Message Key to Wins

By Mike Hall

Union members join Nevada Sen. Harry Reid (center) to get out the vote.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told the AFL-CIO Executive Council this morning to keep one thing in mind after last Tuesday?s election: ?We still have a lot of unfinished business and we are still in the majority. We aren?t going to take a backseat to anybody on anything.?

Reid, Senator-elect and West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin (D) and Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn, all of whom enjoyed overwhelming support in votes and volunteers from union members, this morning called in to a post-election council meeting at the AFL-CIO in Washington, D.C.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said the Nevada election was “a fight for good jobs, a decent wage, the right to join a union and fair trade.”

Throughout the fall, many pundits wrote off Reid in his fight against Sharron Angle, one of the most extreme of a group of far right-wing Republican/tea party candidates, who said, ?jobs are not part of my job description.? Candidates like Angle received record amounts of secret corporate campaign funding, while deep-pocketed phony front groups funneled even more money into their campaigns.

Reid said the union ground game in Nevada was ?exemplary.?

We won by five-and-a-half points because the ground game we had in Nevada was exemplary…[and] the three issues I talked about incessantly?jobs, jobs and jobs….I wouldn?t  be here in the Senate for this new term but for you.

West Virginia?s Manchin, who also faced a far-out-of-the-mainstream, right-wing challenge from multimillionaire John Raese (of the infamous West Virginia “hick” ad), said when he arrives in the Senate, changing trade laws and stopping free trade agreements that enable U.S. firms to ship jobs overseas will be a priority.

I can tell you it [outsourcing] resonates in a crowd, whether a labor crowd, or a business crowd or a mixed crowd. It  makes no sense to me whatsoever that I?m sitting here in West Virginia and, because of  policies from the past, I?m watching companies move offshore, taking those jobs to other countries….There is nothing fair in the world free, not a damn thing fair about that.

Then they turn around and want to sell it right here in America because other countries don?t have the market. If it?s going to be consumed or bought in America, it should be made in America. I will plant my flag on that.

Chicago Federation of Labor (CFL) President Jorge Ramirez, who introduced Quinn to the council, said the governor, whose Nov. 2 election will be his first full term, has never been shy about the role of unions.

He believes unions are the solution, not the problem, with what?s going on in the economy. I?ve heard him say it often.

Trumka said Quinn?s jobs track record, including a historic infrastructure bill and a $31 billion investment in city and county services, were the key reason Quinn won union voters by a 66-31 margin. Quinn told the council that margin is what put him in office.

We had a message of jobs, jobs and jobs. That message was really quite effective….The Chicago Federation of Labor and the Illinois AFL-CIO had so many union members out there?working very hard and we won by 20,000 . Everyone pitching in with phone calls, field operations and hanging up signs….I wouldn?t be here without you.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on November 09, 2010 (boomark / email).