With so much at stake, unions are knocking on millions of doors in the final push of the campaign

As November 5 approaches, labor unions are packing swing states with tens of thousands of campaigners, dedicating far more resources than in past elections to get the worker-friendly nominations of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.

Some of the aid is directly targeted at active and retired union workers, who, along with household members, make up an estimated one in five voters in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, according to the AFL-CIO.

The American Federation of Teachers sent hundreds of its members from New York to Pennsylvania and Illinois to Wisconsin to investigate “worker gates.” The United Auto Workers similarly sent union members to other members’ homes and businesses, in addition to an aggressive phone, text, and mail campaign.

“When members hear directly from other members about what is at stake and which candidate they will have their backs, we can make progress,” UAW president Shawn Fain said in a statement.

In Philadelphia and the surrounding suburbs, UNITE HERE, a hospitality union, is reaching beyond union members and focusing primarily on Black and Latinx voters in working-class communities where the union has found they are least likely to vote. The union says it will deploy nearly 2,000 campaign workers in ten states in 2024, a fivefold increase from 2016.

“Some Latinos don’t know anything about Kamala,” says Wernel Martinez, an Orlando hotel worker hired by UNITE HERE to knock on doors in Pennsylvania.

Meanwhile, the Service Employees International Union, whose 2 million members include many healthcare workers, aimed to knock on one million doors in the last four days of the election alone.

A work full of contrasts

While both presidential candidates try to persuade the working class, their views on unions, labor laws and regulations could not be much different. Harris has said she will strengthen unions, including by passing the PRO Act, which would make it easier for workers to organize. As president, Donald Trump has sought to weaken unions, going so far as to strip federal employee unions of their power and support Right to Work laws that allow workers to opt out of paying union dues.

While the Biden administration is setting rules to expand overtime to millions more workers, Trump has publicly admitted that he hates paying overtime as a business owner and would hire more people to avoid having to do it. part of voter support.

With such contrast, it’s no surprise that most major labor unions immediately backed Harris after she entered the race in July. But there are some notable exceptions, including the Teamsters. his leadership refused to consent It comes after an internal poll found members favored Trump over Harris by a 2-to-1 margin, and meetings with both candidates left union leaders unsatisfied. Following the disapproval, most regional and local chapters of the Teamsters announced their endorsement of Harris.

“People want to talk to someone like them.”

As part of the AFL-CIO’s mass canvassing effort, Skylar Goodman, a political organizer for the International Union of Painters and Allied Tradesmen, has been knocking on doors on every corner of Philadelphia since July, averaging five to seven miles on foot some days.

“People want to talk to someone like them,” says Goodman, who grew up in northeast Philadelphia and helped his father, a tow truck driver, in the summer.

Earlier in the campaign, he was opening up conversations about union-specific issues, such as union jobs created under legislation championed by the Biden-Harris administration, and broader issues, such as abortion.

It will focus on Trump’s record, Roe vs. He would point to the U.S. Supreme Court elections that led to the overturning of the Wade case and the policies he enacted while in office that diminished the power of unions; most of which were rolled back by Trump. Biden administration.

“It’s as if all this cleanup has been done and then another hurricane is going to blow everything up,” Goodman warned if Trump wins.

However, the persuasion phase of this campaign is largely over. Now it’s all about making sure people have a plan to vote.

Pennsylvania was decided by just 44,000 votes in 2016 and just over 80,000 votes in 2020; Therefore, even closing a handful of votes is important. But even in blue Philadelphia, it’s not the easiest thing.

People don’t want to talk politics but they will whisper

On a recent weekday morning, many people were not at home, and the few who came to the door did not want to share who they voted for.

“Some people worry more about how the people in their lives will react to their decisions,” says Goodman. “People will whisper this to me. They won’t go out and talk, but they will whisper, ‘I’m a Democrat.’ ‘I’m voting for Harris.’”

Fear of falling out with neighbors and family members is one of the reasons Goodman chose to spend so much time talking to voters this election.

“We may disagree,” he says. “We don’t need to be angry at each other because we don’t look at things the same way. We all live different lives. Of course, we will see this differently.”

Union poll finds welfare woos voters

With the election less than a week away, unions say their collective campaign is making a difference, even as the field remains tough.

Last week, the UAW released a survey of 800 UAW members and households in key states. Harris had a 29-point lead over Trump among those who reported receiving election-related news from the UAW, while there was only a 6-point lead among those who said they had not heard from their union.

“These figures underscore the effectiveness of the union’s aggressive strategy to inform members about candidates’ positions on important economic issues, including protecting overtime pay, overhauling harmful trade agreements, preventing offshoring, expanding retirement security, and taking on corporate greed,” the UAW said. he said in a statement.

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