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U.S. ELECTION: HOPE AND CHANGE

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19 December, 2008Barack Obama's decisive victory as the next president of the United States inspired hope among working people both in America and abroad. In battleground states, such as Ohio and Pennsylvania, more than 100,000 trade union volunteers took time off work to help convince Americans to vote for change.

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Text & Photos / David Moberg

On a beautifully sunny October morning, Rainey Rohrmeier parked her car in a hilly, wooded suburb of Cincinnati, an old industrial city in the southwestern part of Ohio. Wearing a blue denim Machinists union jacket emblazoned with Obama buttons, she began knocking on doors of union households, reminding them of the labor movement's endorsement of Democrat Barack Obama for president of the United States.

This year Ohio, a state with a delicate balance between urban and rural, northern and southern, progressive and conservative voters, was once again a critical battleground in the contest for the presidency. And political strategists counted on union members like Rohrmeier to make a difference. Unions are still relatively strong in Ohio, despite the loss of nearly a quarter of its manufacturing jobs during the administration of George W. Bush - the worst record since the Great Depression.

The already troubled economy, plunged into a deep financial crisis in the months before the November 4 elections, tipped many voters towards Obama's call for "change". Ray Lampin, 57, a retired electrical worker didn't need much convincing from Rohrmeier. "I'm going to vote all Democrat," he explained, expressing hope for a new boost to the economy through eco-friendly jobs in wind and solar power. "I think Obama is the best thing that could happen to this country."

But not all union members in this Republican-leaning, virtually all-white suburb were such ready supporters. A normally Republican retired union member of the AFL-CIO, the nation's biggest labor federation, remained undecided. "If Obama did everything he said he would do, I'd vote for him," Frank Homer said. "But I think he's not that experienced. Yet I'm afraid of McCain. He'll go to war." Angry at overpaid executives and disappointed with Republicans, a 50-year old, unemployed and undecided engineer also partly blamed his troubles of finding a job on affirmative action for minorities. Rohrmeier politely made her case for Obama as better for working people's economic interests, then left union leaflets contrasting the stands of the two presidential candidates.

Ultimately the work of well more than 100,000 union volunteers, contacting members repeatedly with tens of millions of phone calls, door knocks, mailings, worksite fliers and internet messages, paid off. Obama won the presidency, in part by also winning Ohio and Pennsylvania (and by narrowing the typical Republican edge in suburban counties).

Obama's 53 to 46 percent victory over McCain, who could not shake his ties to a deeply unpopular Bush and the economic crash, primarily reflected Democratic gains since the last election among young voters, women, voters with a post-graduate education, and Latinos (and other people of color). Although white voters chose McCain by 56 to 43 percent, Obama, the first African-American to be elected president, received a slightly larger share of white votes than Democrat John Kerry did in 2004.

UNION MOBILISATION
Labor also shaped the outcome. Union members, about 12 percent of voters, gave Obama a decisive 67 percent of their votes, compared to 30 percent for McCain, according to an election night poll by Peter Hart Research for the AFL-CIO. And although McCain led Obama by 8 percentage points among all voters 65 or older, older union members favored Obama by 46 points. By a 16 point margin white men chose McCain, but white men who belonged to unions voted for Obama by 18 points.

The United States labor movement was slow to embrace Obama. Unions were so split, mainly among Sen. Hillary Clinton, former Sen. John Edwards and Obama, that they either remained neutral or split their endorsements, with many not backing Obama until he had clinched the nomination in June.

In the subsequent general election, unions had to win over ardent backers of Clinton, who narrowly lost the nomination after strong showings among white working class voters in such states as Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan.

Clinton's blue-collar showing raised the question: Would all of those same white Democrats (and Democratic-leaning independents) support a black candidate for president?

Unions decided that they had to confront race directly as well as to focus members' attention on economic issues. "I'm pained to see race is an issue," Steelworkers president Leo Gerard said. "If we look at working family issues or union issues..., you could come up with 100 reasons to vote for Obama," Gerard said. "The message is simple: If you let the color of a person's skin interfere with what's best for you, your kids, and your grandkids, then shame on you."

Ultimately evidence of strong racially motivated voting against Obama showed up mainly in some regions of the South and Appalachia. But union voters' stronger preference for the Democratic presidential candidate compared to the general public vote was nearly the same this year as in 2004 among white men and even stronger among white women.

The successful mobilization of union voters for Obama owed much to local union members and leaders who took time off from their work to campaign, people like Machinist Rainey Rohrmeier, Steelworker Mike Munger, and CWA-IUE member Matt Clark.

"A RESPONSIBILITY TO GIVE BACK"
On her first day of work for the autumn political season, Rainey Rohrmeier joined in an anti-McCain labor press conference, knocked on doors of union members, and participated in a labor planning meeting seeking, among other things, more labor volunteers (especially white men) and more Obama bumper stickers to put on pick-up trucks. Over the coming weeks, she leafleted factories, telephoned members, organized rallies, and helped get people to the polls on election day.

Rohrmeier, 53, an electrician at a large General Electric aircraft engine factory near Cincinnati, briefly taught physical education and health but soon turned to her father's trade, becoming an electrician at a time when few women were entering industrial work. In recent years, she has held several elected offices, worked on political campaigns, and, fittingly, given her past encounters with sexism, chaired the women's committee.

"What drives me to do this?" she said. "My feeling about being involved is that we all have a responsibility to give back. I have reaped the benefits of people before me, and I take seriously the responsibility to the next generation."

But she was also driven by frustration with the direction her country was going. "This whole Bush administration drives me nuts," she said. "I think we're moving backwards. Employers find it's cheaper to pay overtime than hire more workers. So we have a few people in great jobs instead of more people in good jobs. Look at the minimum wage. And kids are working. And there's still an equal pay issue [for women]."

During the Democratic primary, Rohrmeier, like her Machinists union, vigorously supported Clinton but envisioned "no problem voting for Barack Obama". But at work she found many McCain supporters, including strong abortion opponents, gun owners, and advocates for more military spending, who thought that would secure their jobs. But only one man said he wouldn't support Obama because he was black. "I said, 'You've got to be kidding. Some point in time we've got to get over this. He is qualified to do the job. He's for working people's issues,'" she recalled. "But what do you do with people like that?"

On election night, when both Obama and a local Democratic challenger for Congress won, she concluded that her work made a difference. She joined fellow union volunteers at a local pub to watch television reports on voting returns. "When Ohio went for Obama, we all shouted, 'Yay!" she said. "Our country made this wonderful step forward. I'm so proud to be an American. We needed this."

GRASS-ROOTS ACTIVISTS
In the 31 years he has worked for Wheatland Tube, a leading steel pipe manufacturer in the Shenango River Valley area northwest of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Mike Munger, 55, has seen the local economy lose at least 20,000 well-paid manufacturing jobs making railroad cars, pipe, transformers and other metal products. Wages for many remaining workers have been frozen or cut. Unlike even a decade ago, houses everywhere are for sale.

Now president of his shrinking local United Steelworkers union, Munger, known as "Goose", shared a bleak outlook at his office in the simple union hall, decorated with photos of factories and union and political leaders from decades ago when unions had more power.
"This country is in bad shape," he said. "I've never seen it this bad, and I think it's going to get worse. Every election people say it's the most important in our lifetime, but this time I mean it."

Global forces have transformed the local economy. The union has confronted both low-priced Chinese pipe imports and shifting ownership - although a Russian plan to buy Wheatland from the Carlyle private equity group has stalled.

Especially in the new global economy, Munger sees the importance for workers to have a union voice at work and in politics. "Over the years, especially the last eight, it seems like the country is getting greedier, the rich getting richer, the poor getting poorer," Munger said, wearing his blue "USW activist" shirt and looking somber but good-natured as usual. "I'd like to see changes. That's why I want Obama. I don't know how many times he said the middle class needs help. McCain talks about freezing government spending. What do you freeze? Health care? Unemployment compensation?

A LACK OF GOOD JOBS
"I think it's George Bush, myself, [who's responsible for the growing inequality]," he continued. "He is the worst president we've had in history. He's lost more jobs than any time since the Depression. He took care of his friends and rich people, and they made out - and the working man has lost for the last eight years."

Munger, like his union's leaders, first supported Edwards. Then he backed Clinton. But eventually he switched to Obama. "Obama wants to change things, build the economy, help the middle class," Munger said. "I like that he said everyone should have a right to health care that's as good as members of Congress like him have. And I think he will try to create jobs in his country." The lack of good jobs hits home. His son, for lack of a good alternative, is planning to enlist in the military, troubling Munger, who opposed the war in Iraq.

Only a few local union members told Munger they couldn't vote for Obama because he was black. "I'm looking at issues, not color," he told them. "I'm looking for somebody in there for me. And his ideas are more in line with what I want than McCain." And when it comes to black athletes, he adds, "you'd stand in line for an autograph, and you cheer for them. But you won't vote for him for president? It doesn't make sense."

Like his union members, Munger hopes Obama can stimulate the economy, develop alternative energy, and protect pensions and social security. But "I don't expect miracles," he said. "He can't turn around in a year what Bush did in eight years."

And despite its demands, he enjoys political work, from organizing volunteers for phone banks and neighborhood walks to answering questions of a visiting Japanese television crew. "There's always something you can do," he said. "Sometimes it's hectic, and you put in long hours. But it beats work. It's exciting when you can get somebody undecided to come your way. Some of these people I'd just like to shake some sense into them."

On election night, he joined fellow volunteers in a few celebratory beers at the defeat of a local Republican member of Congress and stronger support in the county for Obama than Kerry drew four years ago. "I'll miss the work," he said, "but it's time to get back to real life."

"TOGETHER WE CAN CHANGE ANYTHING"
While waiting for Barack Obama to take the stage in the middle of Dayton, Ohio's minor league baseball field, Matt Clark didn't waste a minute as he pulled out his cell phone to call potential supporters. Clark, 28, is shop chairman for his CWA-IUE local union at the DMAX engine plant, a joint project of General Motors and Isuzu. Trained at college as a television editor, he switched to DMAX four years ago for better pay.

But with Dayton, once a center of innovation in aircraft, auto, business machine and other technology, losing 47,000 factory jobs over the past seven years, Clark's manufacturing career is uncertain.

Clark, a state political coordinator for this election, thinks that union members will fight politically for their interests, especially if they hear from familiar local leaders and activists on issues all year round.

"Union members trust what their peers tell them," he said. Sometimes management helps spur activity. When DMAX managers began wearing McCain buttons, even politically uninvolved union members asked for Obama buttons to wear at work.

Exposed to progressive and labor ideals while growing up, Clark was active in an anti-racist group as a student, and he brings his earlier passion to his union work. "A topic that's raised its ugly head is race," he said, waiting for Obama to speak. "I hear it a lot. It's disheartening to hear, but it's especially staggering in a labor organization. There's simply no place for racial discrimination in a union. Sure, John McCain is a white guy, but he's all about screwing the working person regardless of the color of his skin. I can't figure out why any working class person would vote for McCain. He's just in it for the rich and business."

Like many younger voters, Clark favored Obama from the beginning, partly because Obama had been an early opponent of the Iraq war. "We're spending $10 billion a month on a war we don't need," he said, "but we can't afford to give kids or everyone in the country affordable, accessible health care or adequate help to displaced workers."

American metalworking union members like Clark are particularly wary of more global trade deals like the North American Free Trade Agreement. "We want to maintain the jobs we have, like any other country," he said. "But one problem is these free trade agreements never come with labor protections for workers in other countries. We want workers in other countries to get a fair shake. To me, it's the same fight for all of us."

At the end of a long day, he said that "what keeps me going is that fear of waking up the day after the election, John McCain is president, and I'd blame myself for not doing enough." But as he watched election returns at the union hall with his wife and children a wave of relief and joy swept over him, as it did for Munger, Rohrmeier and the many thousands of other union political workers.

"The amazing thing was to watch everyday people work their hind ends off to get this guy elected," Clark said. "The lesson I learned is the old union lesson: I may be one voice, but together we can change anything. It's been a long time, but the American people stood up and said we've had enough and went into the polls and did the right thing. The United States has shown the world that we can be progressive for ourselves and the world."