AFL-CIO to Spend $40 Million on Vote
The money will be used to mobilize union households to back pro-labor candidates, mostly Democrats, for congressional seats.
>From Bloomberg News
March, 1 2006
The AFL-CIO plans to spend a record $40 million in an attempt to unseat Republicans in this year's congressional elections, the labor federation's president said Monday.
The money will fund a campaign to educate and mobilize 11.4 million members of union households in 21 states. It won't be used for campaign contributions, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said at a news conference in San Diego, where the group is holding an executive council meeting.
ADVERTISEMENT The bulk of the money probably will go to supporting Democrats because those candidates are more likely to back issues important to working families, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka said. Still, no vote is certain, and AFL-CIO leaders would endorse Republicans whom they consider to be pro-worker, he said.
"Trade, pensions and healthcare — that's it in a nutshell," Trumka said in an interview. "Anyone who doesn't address those three issues isn't going to get our support."
Labor leaders want to capitalize on the perceived weakness of Republican candidates after lobbying scandals and record-low approval ratings for President Bush.
The AFL-CIO, a federation of 52 U.S. unions, said it would target 40 House races, 15 Senate races and gubernatorial races in New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, California, Florida, Iowa, Michigan and Minnesota.
The federation is seeking to boost voter registration among its members by 10% from 2004, when union households accounted for 1 in 4 voters. The $40 million would be the most the AFL-CIO has spent on a midterm election effort, up from $35 million in 2002, spokesman Steve Smith said.
The AFL-CIO is still reeling from the disaffiliation of four of its unions last year, which cut one-third of the group's membership and 25% of its budget.
The Service Employees International Union, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the United Food and Commercial Workers and Unite Here, a hotel workers' union, left the AFL-CIO to form a rival federation called Change to Win. A fifth union, the Laborers, said it planned to leave the federation soon.
Laborers President Terrence O'Sullivan, SEIU President Andrew Stern and other labor leaders have contended that Sweeney devotes too much attention and resources to politics and not enough to reversing declines in union membership.
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Colin Brace
Amsterdam