Greetings,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

See what Michigan’s labor leaders saying about this years presidential election and the role labor played in delivering a victory to Barack Obama

 

 

 Roberto Mosqueda, AFSCME 5 MESA:

 

 

“We won this election because the Michigan labor movement did an excellent job o getting the message out about who was truly the best candidate to support labor in Washington. Coming in to this election there was a lot of hesitancy about President-Elect Barack Obama because of our unfamiliarity with him but the more we informed our members about his long standing support for labor the stronger his support from our members became. A lot of our members knew a great deal about Senator John McCain and his service to our country was something that our members had a lot of respect for but in the end we had to make sure our members knew that John McCain has a record of opposing those issues that are important to our members and union men and women all across the country. I am confident that our members will see that President-Elect Obama is committed to protecting American jobs, growing our economy and improving our standing in the international community”.

 

 

Debra Renteria Styers, LCLAA:

“The support of the Latino population was key in delivering a victory to Barack Obama in this years election and a big part of building that support for Barack Obama was the role the Latino Council for Latin American Advancement played in education our members about why we were supporting Barack Obama. There was a lot of talk early on about whether or not the Hispanic community would be willing to support an African American candidate for president but the truth is that it wasn’t about race or ethnicity but about who would best speak to the issues of the Hispanic community in general and the Hispanic members of the labor movement in particular. The AFL-CIO did a great job of making sure that there was plenty of Spanish language materials on the working families toolkit and we made sure to take advantage of those resources to help get the word out to our members about the importance of voting for Barack Obama”.

 

 

Roger Robinson, President, UFCW 876

 

 

“Our members were glad to play a big role in boosting the support for Obama amongst the labor members here in Michigan. From the end of the primary our members were out front providing volunteers for the labor 2008 program as well as offering our facilities as a meet up location for the campaign activities of Congressman-Elect Gary Peters. Its never easy for a challenger to defeat an incumbent but the Michigan AFL-CIO along with the Peters campaign did a great job of letting people know just what was at stake if we didn’t elect worker friendly candidates this time around and with the problem of the economy and what Michigan has been through the past 8 years under the Bush administration is was imperative that we had a critical mass of voters supporting our candidates and we did just that I believe that is a big reason why our candidates were victorious in areas of Michigan that have long been considered Republican strongholds. Going forward we are going to be working with the candidates we helped elect to make sure that they are doing their part in Washington to build a stronger labor movement in America”.

 

 

Philip Schloop, Business Manager, IUOE:

“There was so much support for Barack Obama and all our endorsed candidates amongst our members that at times it was unbelievable. Every time we organized a labor to labor walk we had more than 100 volunteers show up to canvass neighborhoods, knock on doors and build support for Obama and I truly believe that along with the desire for change played a huge role in Barack Obama becoming the 44th President of the United States”.

 

 

Paul Shemanski, Grand Lodge Representative, IAM:

“When you think about what the current administration has done to labor and to our economy over the last 8 years there was no question that we had to go above and beyond our previous efforts to ensure a victory for Barack Obama. President-Elect Obama was the only presidential candidate to openly voice his support for labor and the Employee Free Choice Act and that was something that our members really responded to. Once the IAM endorsed Barack Obama’s candidacy our members turned out in full force to make sure he would become our next president. Barack Obama’s message of change was something that really resonated with our members and we are glad to say that we played a big role in delivering Michigan’s 17 electoral college votes to the candidate that is going to represent our interest and be attuned to our issues in Washington, D.C.”

 

 

Gary Vanhoogstraten, President, APWU:

 

 

“The APWU was a large presence in the labor 2008 program here in Michigan. We had members working as release staff all across the state and we made sure that our members were contacted multiple times about why they needed to vote for Obama in this years election” As we sat and watch the election returns on November 4th and it became increasingly clear that Barack Obama was going to be our next president there was a sense of pride that our members felt knowing that the large margin of victory that Obama enjoyed was in no small part due to the role that labor played in building support for his candidacy and making sure that our members voted on election”.

 

In the end when the history books are written and people look back on this historic election and why Obama won such a commanding victory there is no question that the role of the AFL-CIO’s Labor 2008 program will be seen as a critical component of why Barack Obama was victorious