Right to Work Blog

Financial Week takes an insightful look at Big Labor’s big hope and big bet — the effort to end the secret ballot election — despite underestimating the amount they will spend to buy enactment of their scheme:

The labor movement’s big-money campaign for Sen. Barack Obama faces stiff challenges in getting rank-and-file union members to overcome their concerns about the candidate, according to labor specialists and polls.

“There’s been a cultural and political divide between union members and Democratic candidates who may not care as much about trade and some other issues as they do,” said Bruce Cain, a professor of political science at the University of California at Berkeley. “That makes it hard for union leaders to deliver the vote.”

This clearly worries union leaders, who see the November election as pivotal in getting key legislation passed. At the top of the list: the Employee Free Choice Act, a bill that would allow workers to organize via card checks rather than the usual secret ballots. Mr. Obama endorsed the legislation, which passed the House before stalling in the Senate. Sen. John McCain opposed it. Last week, U.S. Chamber of Commerce president Tom Donohue said his group would lobby against the bill.

“All of labor’s eggs are placed in this legislation’s basket,” said Mike Asensio, a management labor lawyer for Baker Hostetler in Columbus, Ohio. “If they don’t get the bill passed, it raises a specter about their future.”

Given the stakes, it’s hardly surprising that organized labor is splashing massive amounts of cash on the election. The AFL-CIO and its 56 member unions plan to spend a whopping $300 million to support Democrats in the presidential and congressional campaigns this fall and produce about 250,000 volunteers. The breakaway Service Employees International Union plans to pitch in another $85 million.

To put that in perspective, the Democratic Party as a whole had raised $416 million through July.

The campaign at the AFL-CIO is typical of labor’s big-money strategy. The union will target 3 million undecided members, voting family members and retirees in 24 battleground states, the group’s political director, Karen Ackerman, said. That target group consists of about a quarter of all union members.

The umbrella labor organization’s highest priorities will be voters in Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania—swing states with large numbers of union members. It plans to spend as much as $18 million to reach undecided union voters and others in those three states with TV ads, flyers, phone calls, e-mails, mailings and one-on-one visits.

“Union members vote at a higher rate than the rest of the population,” said David Karol, a political science professor at the University of California at Berkeley. “Many are basically Democratic who will end up coming around.”

Maybe. But the largest block of undecided U.S. voters consists of older white, blue-collar, church-going men and women, according to a recent bipartisan poll of 1,000 registered voters conducted by Lake Research Partners and the Tarrance Group.

Blue-collar workers in Macomb County, Mich., a Detroit suburb, favor Mr. McCain over Mr. Obama by a 51%-42% margin, according to a survey by Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg that was released Aug. 25.

The Michigan workers, many of whom voted for Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, harbor doubts about Mr. Obama’s experience, values and patriotism, with lesser concerns about his race, the poll found. “Many folks have never voted for an African-American,” Ms. Ackerman granted. “It’s complicated by unfamiliarity, inexperience and rumors. Our job is to make sure people know who Barack Obama is and what he stands for.”

But earlier labor-funded ads seem to focus on what John McCain supposedly stands for. One flier about Mr. McCain’s proposal to privatize Social Security said: “McCain’s worth over $100 million…. He owns 10 houses…. He flies around on a $12.6 million corporate jet…. He walks around in $520 loafers…. If John McCain lost his Social Security, he’d get by just fine. Would you?”

An online video showcases Mr. McCain’s houses and condominiums in Arizona, California and Virginia while also needling the Arizona senator about his calfskin loafers made by Salvatore Ferragamo. The video, distributed by the AFL-CIO and SEIU, then focuses on a person whose house was lost to foreclosure.

“Labor’s money provides them with the potential to make a significant impact in publicizing who Obama is, and it doesn’t really matter that it’s coming from the unions,” said Alan Gitelson, a political science professor at Loyola University of Chicago. “Political advertisements have an impact if they are repetitive.”

With the rolls of organized labor down nearly a quarter since 1979, union leaders will no doubt continue to hammer away.

How is the AFL-CIO spending over $50 million in workers dues money? On political mailers, of course. National Journal reports that over 600,000 pieces are hitting mailboxes in four battleground states.

The AFL-CIO begins a ramped-up campaign to define Sen. Barack Obama with union members and their families in battleground states, focusing heavily on working-class, swing union voters in OH, MI, PA and WI. The goal, per union officials, is to dispel the many rumors circulating about Obama via two new mailers, dropped today, that ask and answer still-looming questions about the candidate. The union will send the pieces to 600K swing voters living in the four critical battleground states.

The mailers are just one leg to a very expensive political stool the union bosses are constructing.

Here are other elements of the AFL-CIO’s effort for Obama:

– The group’s focus is on mobilizing working people in 24 states, targeting about 13M union voters, including members, householders, retirees and those involved with the group’s community affiliate, Working America. Union voters make up between 25-35 percent of the vote on Election Day in OH, MI, PA and WI.

– In August, AFL-CIO volunteers will deliver 1M flyers about Obama’s record and background to worksites across the country. Overall, more than 4M flyers have already been distributed to worksites, including flyers about McCain’s “anti-worker” record, sources said.

– Every weekend in August, union volunteers will canvass neighborhoods across the country, providing voters with information about Obama’s record and contrasting it with McCain’s. Again, swing voters will be targeted. AFL-CIO volunteers will also be phone banking all month to swing union voters in key states.

– Members of Working America, the community affiliate of the AFL-CIO for those without a union, are canvassing nightly to discuss the issues that matter to working-class voters. In OH alone, more than 160 canvassers are going out every day. Working America currently has nearly 2.5M members, including 800K in Ohio.

– One note: The AFL-CIO Union Veterans Council, launched last month in five states, is expected to create new state councils expected in August. The Veterans Council will play an integral role in mobilizing 2.1M union veterans, according to union officials. Meanwhile, the TV ad about McCain’s economic priorities, featuring union veteran Jim Wasser, continues to run in media markets in six states: MI, MN, OH, PA, VA and WI. Also since February, AFL-CIO volunteers have now protested at more than 100 McCain campaign events from coast to coast.

In addition to the quarter of a billion dollars the AFL-CIO will spend to elect pro-Big Labor puppets across the nation, the Services Employees International Union (SEIU) will spend an incredible $75 million in forced-union-dues money between now and November.

The New York Times noted:

The union’s secretary-treasurer Anna Burger said the SEIU would devote money and staff to Colorado, North Carolina and Virginia. The union’s strategy appears to dovetail with the Obama campaign’s plans to compete in those states, all three of which President Bush won in 2004.

At a strategy briefing last week, campaign manager David Plouffe said “we think we’re in a very strong position” in North Carolina and Virginia and he indicated Mr. Obama would not be ceding the mountain West to Senator John McCain either. Mr. Obama chose the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs as the venue to talk up his national service agenda on Wednesday.

Ms. Burger said the union, which endorsed Senator Obama in February, would also pour resources for both the presidential contest and down-ballot races into the perennial battlegrounds of Iowa, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan, among others, as well as governor’s races in Indiana, Missouri, North Carolina and Washington State.

To add insult to injury, the $75 million total does not include a $10 million bounty the union bosses have set aside to ensure that pro-Big Labor politicians don’t ever vote the interests of union members instead of the union leadership.

Pennsylvania does not afford its workers Right to Work protection, thus giving union bosses the ability to coerce union dues from employees and spend them almost any way they want. That’s the way the union apparatchik likes it.

Philadelphia Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers spent a remarkable $2.4 million last year on politics and has refused to disclose its expenditures as required by law, reports the Philadelphia Daily News. So intent on keeping their spending secret, the union bosses have filed a lawsuit in federal court, but the Board of Ethics was joined by the state attorney general and the Pennsylvania Department of State, asking Chief U.S. District Judge Harvey Bartle III to dismiss the case.

“Local 98’s PAC wants to keep some of its expenditures hidden from the public, to pick and choose what they’ll show and what they’ll hide,” said the Ethics Board’s executive director, Shane Creamer Jr. “It wants the benefits of being a political action committee, its tax-exempt status and the benefits of giving donations, without any of the responsibilities to show how it’s spending the money.”

For nine years, Don Adams has sought justice. This week, he got some.

It was nearly a decade ago when Adams was assaulted by a group of Teamsters in Philadelphia while he protested a visit by then President Bill Clinton. John Morris, the secretary of Local 115, placed a fedora over Adams’ face, a gesture known as “capping.” Capping is a sign for Morris’ union goons to attack. And attack they did.

Mr. Adams suffered several injuries as a result of the attack.

As reported by Bradley Vasoli in the Evening Bulletin:

By January 1999, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office arraigned several suspects in the incident, including Don Adams. He was charged with simple assault and other misdemeanors.

Video footage of the event by television news teams depicted Mr. Adams and Miss Adams [Mr. Adams’ sister Teri is a signatory to the settlement.] having fallen to the street as several individuals with Teamster T-shirts and jackets pushed and kicked them. When Mr. Adams arose, blood dripped from his cheekbone. Television interviews later revealed his eyes blackened.

Criminal proceedings against Mr. Adams went on until September 2000, at which point he was found not guilty.

Five Teamsters did endure modest punishments for their role in the events of October 1998. A few days after the 1998 congressional elections, two male union-affiliated suspects were arrested. They pled guilty to assault and other charges in the summer of 1999 and received probation.

In September 1999, two more male Teamsters and one female were arrested and pled guilty the next year, similarly sentenced to probation. Mr. Morris, who died in May 2002, was never charged.

In October 2000, Mr. and Miss Adams filed civil complaints to obtain redress for his criminal trial and to elicit an admission of responsibility from the Teamsters.

This month, the ordeal came to an end when the Teamsters settled with Mr. Adams out of court.

Readers of this blog are well aware that Federal law essentially protects union-led violence campaigns against prosecution. But when Don Adams, a Philadelphia resident, protested a visit to City Hall by then-President Bill Clinton, the last thing he expected was the beating of his life by a group of local teamster thugs. And to add insult to injury, a federal judge has ordered Adams to pay the International Brotherhood of Teamsters $15,000 in legal costs stemming from the October 2000 civil rights suit.

According to Philadelphia, Pa.’s, The Bulletin:

Nine years ago, two protesters at City Hall received the lambasting [a fancy word for a beating] of their lives.

During a public protest against former President Bill Clinton, Don Adams and his sister, Teri Adams, were attacked by a group of Teamsters. . . .

Five members of Teamster Local 115 eventually pleaded guilty to criminal assault, conspiracy and other charges.

Several years ago, Judge William H. Yohn dismissed the Adams’ federal civil rights claim and remanded the civil suit back to state court. Charges of malicious prosecution, conspiracy and defamation of character are still being litigated against the Teamsters Local 115 and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters for accusing Don Adams of being involved with organized crime. One count of malicious prosecution still stands against Gov. Ed Rendell, for his alleged involvement in the attack.

According to Don Adams, Mr. Rendell, Philadelphia mayor at the time, has since admitted to inviting Local 115 Vice President John Morris and Local 115 members to attend the rally at City Hall. Don Adams said Gov. Rendell acknowledged in court he encouraged the teamsters to “drown out” Clinton protesters. A spokesperson for Gov. Rendell said they have filed a motion to dismiss the charge but no decision has yet been reached.

Even though a technicality in Pennsylvania law seems to allow the Teamsters to collect attorney fees, The Bulletin reports that Adams refuses to back down from his fight.

“But this case transcends the spirit of that rule,” Joe Adams said.

“We made the argument the Teamsters should not be awarded those costs. It seems inequitable that you would have that kind of result.”

Joe Adams stood trial in 1999 on assault charges brought by one Teamster. He was found not guilty.

Don Adams said the attack was organized and led by late Teamster boss John Morris. The union boss died in May 2002 of heart failure.

“There was a great injustice perpetrated against myself and my sister,” Don Adams said.

“It is clear the Teamsters have no interest in trying to resolve the matter in an amicable way.”

Don Adams said he suffered “pummeling, kicking and punching,” on Oct. 2 outside City Hall, after anti-Clinton demonstrators collided with pro-Clinton demonstrators. The assault was captured on video.

“It was a clear attempt to silence us,” he said. . . .

“Had the [federal] court decided to keep those state law claims in federal court, those claims would have been heard, and, based on all the evidence, we should have prevailed,” . . . Adams said.

A trial has been scheduled for April of next year in Philadelphia Common Please [sic] Court.