CLEVELAND—“We must get involved in electoral politics. For the sake of our movement, for the sake of workers, we must reject MAGA and corporate extremism in the 2024 elections,” Tim Burga, president of the Ohio AFL-CIO declared to hundreds of delegates and labor activists assembled here Tuesday at the labor federation’s state convention.
In addition to calling for the election of Kamala Harris as president, labor activists in Ohio’s Senate race are aiming at and working to defeat big business supporter Bernie Moreno, who is spending millions of dollars to defeat labor-backed incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown.
Moreno is a business owner and notorious wage thief. Brown has long been a friend of Ohio labor and has a 100% lifetime scorecard from the AFL-CIO. Delegates at the convention held signs in support of Brown as well as signed cards to signify their willingness to door knock, phone bank, and get out the vote for him and the entire Democratic anti-MAGA ticket from top to bottom.
“Sherrod Brown embodies the dignity of work. Thousands of retirees can rest easy knowing that their pensions are protected,” said Burga. The fight to defend Brown’s seat in the Senate is decisive in preventing MAGA from controlling the Senate and instituting further exploitation and corporate abuses of power.
Saved majority rule
“We are sick of playing defense in Ohio. We are going on offense with the ballot initiative Citizens Not Politicians,” also known as Issue 1, said Burga. “This ballot measure is a game changer for organized labor. Fair districting means politicians can’t cherry pick voters anymore…they have to earn the workers’ votes.”
Melissa Cropper, Secretary-Treasurer of the Ohio AFL-CIO, said, “When we pass the Citizens Not Politicians ballot initiative, we will put an end to the gerrymandering that has allowed extremism to thrive.”
In 2023, Ohio workers beat back House Joint Resolution 1, which aimed to end majority rule in Ohio, requiring civilian ballot initiatives to garner 60% of the popular vote for passage. This year, Ohio workers are on the offensive and ready to win greater democratic rights.
If passed, the Citizens Not Politicians amendment will create a new redistricting commission made up of elected members who will be responsible for drawing up voting districts—not career politicians and corporate lobbyists. Labor’s clear interest in passing Issue 1 was on full display at the convention in Cleveland, as the Ohio AFL-CIO has named Issue 1 a top electoral priority.
Workers in Ohio, historically one of the most gerrymandered states in the U.S., have been dealing with an added assault from reactionary right-wing extremists, alongside the corporate assault on workers for maximum profits.
“Here in Ohio,” Cropper, a strong backer of Harris, told the delegation, “Trump encouraged division and polarization that led to extremist legislators being emboldened in their attempt to weaken our power and divide us based on race, religious beliefs, sexual identity, or any other line they could find to separate us.” The goals of division and disunity of the labor movement are to lower wages, weaken contracts, and decrease bargaining power.
Solidarity with Haitian American workers
Most noticeable and on the minds of delegates here is the recent racist, hate-filled, fascistic fervor fueled by lies and vilification of Haitian American immigrants. Led by Donald Trump, Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, and other right-wing extremists, these lies have ignited a surge of animosity, bomb scares, and marches by neo-Nazis that attempt to fracture the working people of Springfield.
Vance, speaking to CNN State of the Union host Dana Bash on Sept. 15, actually admitted that he lied about Haitian American immigrants stealing and eating pets in Springfield. He said, “If I have to create stories [lie] so that the media pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do.”
Vance has also said that it matters not that he lied about Haitians in Springfield being undocumented. Even if they are documented, he has said, they should be deported anyway because they do not deserve that status. Trump and Vance have said they will round up millions of immigrants and hold them in concentration camps until they are deported. Labor, its allies, and even big sections of business have said that such plans would destroy the economy.
The trade union delegates here aren’t buying any of the racist Trump-Vance lies. The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 75, which represents at least 200 Haitian workers in Ohio, released a solidarity statement with the Haitian workers, opening the door for their membership to build the union’s critical labor-community alliance.
“With at least 200 of our members being from Haiti, the misinformation and hate we’ve seen is a direct attack on our union,” said UFCW Local 75 president Kevin Garvey. “These lies put our entire membership at risk.”
UFCW Local 75 Secretary-Treasurer Bryon O’Neal said “When workers are divided, our ability to collectively bargain is compromised. We have to stand united in our fight for better conditions, fair wages, and stronger protections across the board.”
Bill Benner, Organizing Director at UFCW Local 75, told People’s World that “they (Trump and Vance) are intentionally putting out false information about who these people (Haitian workers) are and what they’re doing. The Haitian immigrants are accepted by the community and part of the community, they are hardworking people who show up to work, pay taxes, and it is a travesty that they are being attacked this way.”
Last week, bomb threats from right-wing extremists forced an evacuation in Springfield at a Kroger represented by UFCW Local 75.
“If you work for a living and are ready to fight for a better life, you belong in our movement,” said United Auto Workers Region 2B director, David Green, who covers Springfield. “Our union was founded by immigrants. Our nation was founded by immigrants. We are proud to come together across differences to unite in common cause for a better life for the whole working class.”
The UAW represents hundreds of Haitians working in Ohio. “These workers are under Temporary Protected Status (TPS), are here legally working, paying taxes and union dues, and are full members of our union and our community,” Green said.
“They are not ‘taking our jobs,’ they are fighting for a better life alongside thousands of other UAW members.”
“This extreme attack on Haitians was intentionally fabricated by J.D. Vance,” said AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Fred Redmond to the delegation in Cleveland. “It is dishonest, disgusting, and meant to divide us.”
“It is meant to divide us because they don’t have a plan for the people of Ohio or the workers of our country. The labor movement will not stand for it. We stand with Haitians!”
In response, the Ohio AFL-CIO passed a resolution showing solidarity with Haitian American immigrant workers and condemning the violent, racist rhetoric employed by right-wing extremists in an attempt to create division among the working class.
Stronger than ever
Burga put all of these topics within the context of the overall health of the labor movement in Ohio and across the country.
“The health of the Ohio AFL-CIO is stronger than ever!” he declared. “We are working tirelessly to organize and to make our impact felt. Our job is to ensure organized labor is the dominant voice in our workplaces, our communities, and the halls of government.
“I am proud to say after decades of anti-union propaganda, misinformation, and corporate attacks, workers are rising up!” Burga said to cheers from the delegates. “Workers from all industries and sectors are coming together to form and join unions, and we are now more popular with the public than at any time since the mid-1960s,” he said.
What to do with that renewed interest in the labor movement in the workplace as well as at the ballot box was discussed by delegates throughout the meeting.
The labor movement, according to Burga, has an obligation to meet the political moment by investing heavily in new organizing, growing the trade unions, and using the political power of organized labor to defend, as well as expand, the democratic will of working people.
Luke Jacobson contributed material for this story.
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