Fractured labor unions displays unity at DNC rally

Common goal brings factions together at rally

By Joanne Kelley, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published August 25, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Photo by Brian Lehmann / The Rocky

Becky Pringle yells as the National Education Association is introduced during the caucus of labor delegates Sunday.

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A divided labor movement has begun to show signs of unity again.

On the eve of the Democratic National Convention, more than 2,000 union delegates and activists came together at an afternoon rally with a singled-minded focus: sending Sen. Barack Obama to the White House.

The race marks the first presidential campaign since several large unions quit the AFL-CIO three years ago to form a competing coalition called Change to Win. Despite the rift, leaders of the competing factions shared the podium at a rally that brought together dozens of unions from both camps.

"It's important to note we are united - I mean all of us," AFL-CIO President John Sweeney told those gathered at the two-hour-long rally in a convention center ballroom.

Labor leaders have characterized their political activities this year as their largest and broadest effort yet to mobilize their members and elect candidates.

American Federation of State and Municipal Employees' President Gerald McEntee told the boisterous crowd that labor has been a "sleeping giant" that has just started to stir again in recent years.

McEntee drew cheers from the placard-waving union members when he told them the labor movement's "really gotta wake up now. . . . It's now or never."

The AFL's various unions will spend more than $200 million on the 2008 election as they seek to sway votes on hundreds of candidates they think will back the labor law reforms and other policy changes they seek.

"Ground zero" for the AFL, said its political director Karen Ackerman, are the roughly 3 million union members who are "swing" voters.

"Winning the White House is not enough," Ackerman told reporters. "We are playing in 510 races."

Change to Win has devoted $85 million to the election. The group is made up of key unions such as the huge Service Employees International Union, the Teamsters and the United Food and Commercial Workers.

Change to Win chairwoman Anna Burger of the SEIU told the capacity rally audience that "Obama is just like us," noting he was raised by a single mom and "is someone who knows what it's like to pay bills."

Getting that message out will take a collaborative effort by all unions, Burger said. But in a news briefing, she noted that her group has "no intention of going back" to rejoining the AFL.

But those in attendance noted the significance of the joint rally.

"If we can't come together to defeat John McCain, then we don't have a right to call ourselves trade unionists," said Mark Federici, a DNC delegate from Virginia who works for UFCW Local 400.

Added New Jersey delegate Joyce Powell: "It's going to take a concerted effort, and it's good to have all the different labor groups here rallying for change."

kelleyj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5068

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