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October 28, 2003
Union support
Well, hell. I was going to blog about Dean's support from two big unions, the California Teachers Association and The International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, with links going to different newspaper articles, but Hugo Martin at the LA Times decided to save me a lot of trouble by writing a single article to discuss them both: "Dean Wins Support of Two Key Unions".
Now, Gephardt's gotten the support of 20 unions so far, but my understanding is that they're relatively small unions. The unions that have come out for Dean are of decent size: IUPAT has 140,000 members, CTA has 333,000 members and is part of the 2.7 million member National Education Association. Getting the support of the national body would be a coup. So would getting the Service Employees International Union on board. They've got 1.3 million members and represent a lot of health care workers and janitors. Since Dean has vowed to "clean house" in Washington while holding a big broom, SEIU support is virtually in the bag. That's a joke, son.
Update
The Des Moines Register's Jonathan Roos reports that Gephardt's 20 union endorsements add up to 54,000 members and explains why union endorsements are important:
Democratic candidates covet union endorsements because organized labor is a major Democratic constituency with a lot of money and muscle to help campaigns.
ABCNews Dean campaign reporter Marc Ambinder contributes this to the Note:
"With 3,000 active Iowa members and 1,000 retirees, the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades may not be a match for the potent union coalition that Dick Gephardt is building in Iowa. But IUPAT, will try to match Gephardt's numerical strength by setting an ambitious shoe-leather goal."
"'We might be only one-tenth of that crowd,' said James Williams, IUPAT's president, of Gephardt's union endorsements in the state, 'but our feet on the ground means a lot of us will be out there.'"
"Williams told ABC News said the union has pledged to devote to Dean's election a quarter of a million activist days. That, for a union with less than half that number of members."
"IUPAT endorsed Al Gore in 2000 and Bill Clinton in 1992. Three years ago they were a ubiquitous presence at Gore events around the country, surprising other unions with their political aggression, and even received an internal AFL-CIO award for it. But they've never endorsed this early, Williams said."
"Sean McGarvey, IUPAT's political director, said he was skeptical of Dean at first."
"Earlier in the year, campaign manager Joe Trippi had shown IUPAT's leaders the Powerpoint presentation outlining Dean's grassroots goals."
"'I thought they were wildly optimistic,' McGarvey said."
"But then came the $7.6 million second quarter, a rapid rise in the polls, and a surprising show of strength in the union's internal balloting."
"'We had assumed,' said McGarvey, 'that [the union members] would be for their champion, Gephardt.'"
"But Gephardt came in second."
"After the AFL-CIO executive council decided not to meet in mid-October to propose a unified endorsement, IUPAT's political officials began to discuss the possibility of selecting their own candidate."
"'We decided to do it for no other reason than our members have 15 percent unemployment,' Williams said."
"When the secretary-treasurers teleconferenced and laid out their arguments in mid-October, Dean was the clear favorite, union officials said."
Posted by glyphic at October 28, 2003 10:15 AM