WASHINGTON – Only 12 hours after Hillary Clinton accepted the Democratic Party’s nomination for the presidency, the nation’s labor movement is mobilizing a big blitz in six battleground states, according to a statement released today by the AFL-CIO. The aim is to campaign for Clinton and for Congressional and Senatorial candidates whose election would help take those bodies out of the hands of right wing Republicans.
Today and Sunday there are 35 major events scheduled in Florida, Missouri, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin according to the labor federation’s statement.
“Working people are an unstoppable force when we stick together,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka is quoted as saying in the announcement of the blitz. “We spoke loud and strong and have helped put the country on a path to shared prosperity. We have driven the debate that put the brakes on the TPP and have established the standard for rewriting the economic rules that will shape this election.”
He was referring to the fact that many of the issues put forward by the labor movement found their way this year into the campaigns of both Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Clinton.
The AFL-CIO, with 12 million members, is the largest labor federation in the nation.
The federation’s executive vice president, Tefere Gebre, is expected to be in Florida this weekend for campaign kickoff events.
Canvassers armed with information about the anti-labor record of the GOP’s presidential candidate, Donald Trump, will be out on the streets today and Saturday in the key states. They will campaign for Clinton and for various Congressional and Senatorial candidates with the aim of taking out GOP leadership of both of those bodies.
Phone banking operations, the statement says, will also begin today in the six states.
Commenting yesterday on Clinton’s nomination Trumka said, “This is a momentous occasion for working women everywhere who are still fighting to level the playing field in their workplaces and achieve equal pay for equal work. Hillary Clinton’s nomination signals our nation’s commitment to gender equality and we in the labor movement will lift up that commitment on a daily basis.”
Photo: Union canvassers are going door to door in the six battleground states. In Western Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio they are talking to white working-class voters who have been considering voting for Trump, informing them about his solid anti-worker record. | Wikipedia (CC)
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