11-06-08, 9:56 am

In his victory speech on Nov. 4th, President-elect Barack Obama dedicated his victory to the American people. 'I will never forget,' he said, 'who this victory truly belongs to. It belongs to you.' And the role of the labor movement in securing that victory cannot be underestimated.

While higher voter turnout reduced the proportional impact of union households on the overall vote – down to 21 percent from 24 percent in 2004, according to CNN exit polling data, on an increase in turnout of about 12 percent – labor's campaign to educate and mobilize its members and families was likely decisive in key states like Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North Carolina.

According to People's Weekly World Labor Editor John Wojcik, 'The AFL-CIO has a record 250,000 volunteers and 4,000 paid staffers assigned to 20 battleground states in the presidential race, 12 Senate races and 60 House races.'

In addition, the labor unions in the Change to Win federation, which had endorsed Obama during the Democratic primary, spent close to $100 million on ads, direct mailings, phone banks, organizing volunteers, and so on in dozens of states. The Laborers' union, for example, reached out to 110,000 fellow members, helped more than 15,000 members register to vote and enlisted 20,000 volunteers to elect Barack Obama through its phone bank effort.

By all accounts, in Pennsylvania alone, where the McCain-Palin campaign made its last stand, organized labor put together one of the largest and most significant campaigns in its history.

Political pundits generally considered Pennsylvania a difficult state for Obama, despite the fact that Democrats have carried it in several of the past presidential elections. The issue of race and the influence of racism on Pennsylvania's working class was often cited as the key reason. Because of this, the McCain campaign identified it as the main state it could flip in order to have a real path to an electoral victory.

But labor blocked this path. According to statistics offered by the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, labor union volunteers in that state totaled more than 30,000. They visited over 200,000 union households, made over 320,000 phone calls, and distributed over 750,000 worksite leaflets. Non-union members who worked with the AFL-CIO's affiliate Working America, in that state, knocked on up to 10,000 doors a day during the general election campaign.

Labor shored up support for Obama among working-class white voters in that state. According to sources in the labor movement, union activists identified union members and encouraged them to vote for Obama. If a member listed race as an obstacle to supporting Obama, union activists made a special effort to convince that person that race and the influence of racism was a luxury only the wealthy could afford in this election.

In the end, labor solidified working-class support for Obama and fended off McCain's last minute challenge. Close to three in 10 voters in Pennsylvania were from union households, according to exit polling estimates, and more than six in 10 voted for Obama. Similar numbers held in Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio.

Labor activists expanded this kind of campaign to a number of other states where, while union density is smaller, the results are still obvious. Nationwide, Obama captured more white votes than each of his three Democratic predecessors.

In a statement released Nov. 5th, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney congratulated Obama for his victory and the labor movement for its role in earning the win. 'The political pendulum is swinging back toward sanity, after many months of work by people of all ages, races, stations and faiths hungry for change,' he said.

'It took the inspiration of a rare leader to translate these concerns into an election the likes of which have not been seen in a generation. Barack Obama brings new hope to America’s working families, and our increased majority in the Senate means we can translate that hope into reality,' Sweeney continued.

'We salute labor leaders and volunteers all across our country for a record turnout of voters from union households — they made the difference in critical states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio and so many others,' he concluded.

Calling the election outcome 'historical' and 'transformational,' Change to Win Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger added, 'At its foundation, this is a victory for working people by working people. For working families, this election has always been about the economy, about health care, about rebuilding the middle class and renewing the American Dream for those who want nothing more but to provide the next generation with a better future.'

Labor's role in this election centered on some key issues: passing the Employee Free Choice Act, which would make joining or organizing labor unions easier for workers, finding a universal solution for America's broken health care system, rethinking international trade agreements in order to protect workers and jobs, and turning the tide against recession by creating jobs, expanding the safety net, and rebuilding America's infrastructure.