Yoshie - I am personally against death penalty in principle, I even wote letters to editor oppoising it (although I think that some people deserve to die) - I am only arguing that it is not a good platform to mobilize for labor causes. Labor causes are not very popular in the US (thanks to the inculcation of the public opinion with pro-business propaganda) to begin with, opposition to death penalty is even less popular - so what makes you think that linking one not very popular cause to even less popular one would make the mobilization a success - double negatives?
Imho, labor will start winning public support if it links itself to "common sense" issues, such as quality of life, living wage, right to work, harassment-free workplace, equal pay for equal work, workplace democracy and self-management, social safety net for working people, health care, education, healthy and safe environment - that once defined the left's agenda, and stay clear of crankiness propagated by some leftish sects and cults, lit-crit ideologies that hold sway of the campus, and over-moralizing, over-intellectualizing in general.
wojtek