pBy Doug Cunningham/p
pThe New York Times is reporting that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is scheduled to meet Thursday with executives of the Detroit Three auto companies and UAW President Ron Gettelfinger. The meeting is reportedly to discuss possible government help for the domestic auto industry. Auto companies will begin applying next week for $25 billion in low-interest loans to develop fuel-efficient vehicles. But this meeting will go beyond that financial package.br /
The help being discussed with Pelosi today is described as “emergency financial aid”./p
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lia href= http://www.laborradio.org/node/9807Voters Tuesday Delivered Resounding Mandate For Broad-Based Economic Changea//li
lia href= http://www.laborradio.org/node/9808New Mexico Worker Is Typical Of Millions Looking To Election In Hope Of Changea//li
lia href= http://www.laborradio.org/node/9809Workers And Their Unions Succeed In Defeating Some Anti-Labor Ballot Initiativesa//li
lia href= http://www.laborradio.org/node/9810Economic Report: Hurricane Ike’s Economic Winds Still Hurting Texansa//li
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pEconomic Report:/p
pIt has been nearly two months since Hurricane Ike, the third most destructive hurricane to ever make land in the US, devastated portions of Texas. The devastation is still having an impact on jobless claims in the Lone Star state. 132,300 filed for ongoing jobless claims last week, an increase of 53 percent filed the same week in 2007. The Texas Workforce Commission estimates roughly 1,700 claims are from the lasting impact of Ike./p
pAs of Wednesday evening two of three initiatives considered “anti-union” by organized labor had been defeated in Colorado. Jesse Russell reports:/p
pAmendment 47 was the most controversial of the three Colorado labor-related initiatives as it would have prevented unions from negotiating “union shop” contracts if it would mean collecting mandatory dues from nonmembers. The battle over Amendment 47 was the costliest in the state’s history. Also defeated on Tuesday was Amendment 49. This Amendment would have prohibited public employees in Colorado from using payroll deductions to benefit private organizations./p
pBy Doug Cunningham/p
pRachel Pablo is a Sheetmetal Workers member recently laid off in New Mexico and she’s very happy to see the election of Barack Obama and a bigger Democratic majority in Congress./p
p[Pablo]: CEO’s receive million dollar bonuses as the working people pay the price. It’s important to me that us working people have a voice. Barack Obama and the new Congress will head us in that direction./p
pBy Doug Cunningham/p
p[Sweeney]: “Voters have delivered a resounding mandate for broad-based economic change./p
pAFL-CIO President John Sweeney, who says the election was just the first step in enacting sweeping economic change to benefit workers./p
p[Sweeney 2]: “I can safely say that today is one of the brightest days for working people all across our nation. Led by a candidate with an uncommon ability to inspire hope, we reclaimed our country from who are serving corporate interest and privilege at the expense of everyone else./p
pThe AFL-CIO says post-election polling shows that among union voters, Obama beat McCain by 67-30 percent./p
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| SMWIA member Rachelle Pablo, below, and USW member Shane Hanley are among the hundreds of thousands of union members who got out the vote this election. |
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When Rachelle Pablo, a member of the Sheet Metal Workers (SMWIA), was laid off from her job in Albuquerque because a tanking economy had dried up construction work, she says she was “scared the economy would keep getting worse for my family and me.”
But, as Pablo told reporters this afternoon at a post-election press conference at the AFL-CIO in Washington, D.C., she went to work to fix the economy by joining the Labor 2008 political-mobilization campaign to get out the vote among union members for Barack Obama, Senate candidate Tom Udall and other working family candidates.
She says the new administration will change the nation’s direction for working families, adding:
“Barack Obama connects with working people and knows what we’re going through.”
Election Day polling shows that grave concern about the faltering economy was the biggest worry on the minds of union voters yesterday, with 84 percent saying strengthening the economy was the most important factor in determining their vote, according to Peter D. Hart Research Associates.
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Long lines at voting places like this one in Madison, Wis., were common on Nov. 4. |
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The fears that yesterday’s record turnout would overwhelm the voting system and cause a replay of the problems in 2000 and 2004 did not materialize, in part because election officials were better prepared and because Sen. Barack Obama’s margin of victory was so large, potential disenfranchisement was not a factor in calling the election.
Says Lora Jo Foo, coordinator of the AFL-CIO’s My Vote, My Right program:
Because of the extensive voter education we did up to the election and working with election officials, we made it so that while there were problems, they weren’t systemic.
Here’s how union members made the difference in last night’s big win.
* Union voters supported President-elect Barack Obama 67 percent to 30 percent over Sen. John McCain. In the top-tier battleground states the difference was even more stark, with union members going for Obama 69 to 28—a 41-point margin.
* While McCain won among voters ages 65 and up, active and retired union members older than 65 went for Obama by a 46-point margin.
* While McCain won among veterans, union veterans went for Obama by a 25-point margin.
After last night’s historic election of Barack Obama as president of the United States, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney sums it up well, saying:
The political pendulum is swinging back toward sanity, after many months of work by people of all ages, races, stations and faiths hungry for change.
Obama’s victory was sealed when West Coast polls closed last night, and we await the final calls in North Carolina and Missouri, where the race between Obama and Sen. John McCain remains too close to call. As of 11 a.m., Obama has 349 electoral votes in his column and McCain 163.
The popular vote total tally stands at Obama, with 62.4 million (52 percent) and McCain, 55.4 million (46 percent).
Several important congressional races remain too close call. Working families picked up five Senate seats last night, but the races in Alaska, Georgia and Oregon still remain too close to call.
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