Thursday, February 10, 2000
Gore woos Ohio labor
Unions are key to his winning Ohio primary
BY HOWARD WILKINSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
DAYTON — Vice President Al Gore came here Wednesday to fire up organized labor — the one group that cannot only guarantee him a win in the March 7 Ohio primary, but could seal the Democratic nomination and, perhaps, the presidency for him this fall.
“Early to bed, early to rise, work like hell and organize,” the Democratic presidential candidate shouted at the end of a fiery 20-minute speech to about 1,000 union mem bers at the Miami Valley AFL-CIO awards dinner.
Mr. Gore was echoing an old labor-movement slogan. It's one that applies as his campaign tries to motivate organized labor to help him defeat rival Bill Bradley in the March 7 round of primaries, which includes delegate-rich states like California, New York and Ohio.
“I need you, each and every one of you,” the vice president told the union members, who represent an 11-county area of western Ohio that has more than 90,000 active and retired union members.
“You know that a president committed heart and soul to fairness in the workplace can make a difference,” Mr. Gore told cheering union members.
It would appear that
most union members in Ohio are committed “heart and soul” to Mr. Gore. Bill Burga, president of the Ohio AFL-CIO, said Wednesday that between now and the primary, 400 AFL-CIO field workers will see to it that 1 million pieces of literature are mailed to Ohio union households, all touting the labor organization's endorsement of Mr. Gore.
In addition, he said, 100,000 telephone calls will be made by union phone banks.
John Sweeney, national president of the AFL-CIO, accompanied Mr. Gore to Dayton on Wednesday and said that union voters “can be the deciding factor” in the March 7 contest between Mr. Gore and Mr. Bradley.
Union members, he said, made up 34 percent of those who participated in the Iowa Democratic caucuses last month and 24 percent of those who voted in the New Hampshire primary Feb. 1.
“In both those states, we represent only half of those members in terms of the actual registered voters,” Mr. Sweeney said. “It means if we get people out, we win.”
In his speech Wednesday, Mr. Gore told the union members that the “Reagan-Bush crowd” in Washington set back the labor movement in the 1980s but that since Bill Clinton became president “organized labor has made an amazing comeback, and Bill Clinton and I have fought alongside you.”
“President Clinton has vetoed every damn one of those anti-union measures the Republicans have sent to him,” Mr. Gore said. “And if you elect me, I'll stop them with a veto, too.”
When Mr. Gore won the endorsement of the AFL-CIO last year, it was a blow to Mr. Bradley's campaign. Bradley campaign leaders had hoped that if their candidate could not win the endorsement, the nation's largest labor organization would stay neutral in the Democratic presidential primaries.
But, instead, the Gore campaign goes into the March 7 set of primaries, including Ohio, with the backing of a group representing one of the most important voting constituencies in any Democratic primary campaign — union workers.
Organized labor makes up one branch of a trinity of voter groups — the other two being African-Americans and women — that have won Ohio for the Clinton-Gore team in the last two presidential elections and could do so again in 2000 for the Democratic ticket.
While most individual labor unions have endorsed Mr. Gore, not all union members march in lock-step to their unions' endorsements.
Steve Huffman of Norwood, a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, is one union Democrat who has not rushed into the organized labor stampede for Mr. Gore.
Last month, Mr. Huffman showed up at the 2nd Congressional District delegate selection caucus in Eastgate, where he ran for and won a spot on the district's slate of Bradley delegates.
“There is a reason why I bucked my union and most of my party's leadership,” Mr. Huffman said. “I just believe Bill Bradley best represents what the Democratic Party is about.”
Mr. Huffman said that the Clinton administration, with Mr. Gore on board, has compromised too often with the congressional Republicans over the past seven years on issues like health care, education and trade.
Organized labor has had its run-ins with the Clinton administration over the years, at loggerheads with the White House over its support of the North American Free Trade Agreement, welfare reform and, most recently, over what many in labor viewed as the Clinton administration's willingness to overlook workers' rights issues and environmental concerns in its participation in the World Trade Organization.
But, for the most part, the last seven years of Mr. Clinton's administration have been good for organized labor, and most union people want that to continue with his vice president in the Oval Office, said John Marrone, political director of United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1099, which represents thousands of service industry workers in the Cincinnati area.
“I've never seen this as a situation where we are opposed to the other candidate; I don't think many union people feel that way,” Mr. Marrone said.
“It has more to do with the fact that, for all the time he has been vice president, Al Gore has stood with us on issues,” Mr. Marrone said.
Union members, Mr. Marrone said, are particularly supportive of Mr. Gore for his call to raise the minimum wage to $6.15 an hour, which Mr. Bradley also supports.
“If Al Gore becomes president, we will never have a problem disagreeing with him when we have to,” Mr. Marrone said. “We just think on the issues that matter most, he will be with us.”
Gore woos Ohio labor
Kathy Wade tour guide to the big 'hood
Barns disappear with farms
Brownfields could get taxpayer help
Father charged in Pokemon theft
Champion coach quits over bogus certifcate
City invites Rose to party with Reds
Jets become toys for rich
Many suitors likely for Blackwell
Minority stadium contracts to be audited
Parole after violent crimes criticized
Jesus-like figure now in Pennsylvania
Bill would require college police logs
Hotel-tax backers may get say
Queen City's moments to shine reflected in book
Marrying Miss America can't hurt Henry's political chances
Poster attuned to mini-marathon
Ky. family looks great in skates
$180,000 paid in UC harassment
Accused firefighter to stay on duty
Area rivers' game fish included on eating advisory
City, county sprucing up historic cemetery
GET TO IT
Glendale solving plumbing problems
Hendrix guilty of murdering mother of 5
High-schoolers get career boost
HUC offers degrees in Jewish law, ethics
Lebanon takes fun seriously
Ludlow in market for a clerk-treasurer
Ohio officials say new prison not necessary
Schools review revamp of Project Succeed
Six decades for student newspaper
State considers criminal check for volunteers in schools
Student quilts show slaves' path to freedom
TRISTATE DIGEST
