SwiftVets.com

[Oriskany BM3]

I think that it is incumbent upon all Vietnam Veterans Against John Kerry to contact local unions and let them know that we feel that voting for John Kerry is tantamount to crossing a virtual picket line established by Vietnam Veterans. Let's do it.

D. Delaney
USN, Vietnam 1969-1973
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USS Oriskany CVA-34
1969-73

[blue9t3]

This union brother will never cross that line, niether will any of my vet-union buddies. The punk can pander till hell freezes over, hes in Florida right now (bonding) with his only brothers he has left, jesse jackson and al sharpton.
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MOPAR-BUYER

[leeinwv]

great idea

I just put it on Hannity.com

[Redleg]

A good vote is where you can find it. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Sure, the Union leadership will commit to a certain candidate, usually the Democrates, but we are not real sure how the rank and file will vote when get inside the booth. They are not all sheep.

I would guess how a good number of NYC's PBA and Firefighters member's will vote in the upcoming election.
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FIRE MISSION: Kerry campaign in line of sight.

[Spiess]

Unfortunatly
I am recently employed , for the first time, in a job where I am required to be Union. I have found that these Union guys are in general very short sighted negative in general they vote for their Special Interest. never the less I get my shots in under the radar. Disrupt the propoganda a little. I have no doubt that The unions have more power when a Dem is in, but I wonder if that is really a good thing? If you were to ask me Unions are antiquated and no longer necessary. I hold that the Free market would eventually decide an appropriate wage for the work we accomplish.
Anyways Good luck.

[blue9t3]

Spies,
If you dont like the money and the bennies, give it back. My wage sets a standard that helps the non-union get more, not to mention working conditions. The dems give nothing, we fought for it!
should skilled labor pay the same same as McDonalds? Dont give up anything-good luck!
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MOPAR-BUYER

[Navy_Navy_Navy]

Just a hint because I'm pressed for time, but check into the Beck decision.

And read through this site:
http://www.nrtwc.org/
National Right to Work Decision

Your union dues cannot be used against your will to support a political agenda.
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~ Echo Juliet ~
Altering course to starboard - On Fire, Keep Clear
Navy woman, Navy wife, Navy mother

[Me#1You#10]

Folks...

Obviously a contentious issue and I'd ask all parties to re-focus upon the purpose of this forum.

Thanks

[Spiess]

[tx]

The Union heads are nervous, because in 2000, Pres. Bush got over 50% of the union household vote. Now they are using the Dem talking points and it is hurting them badly. Union members are also NRA members, christians, and have children serving in the military. The refusal to drill in Alaska costs several unions jobs. My husband has talked to a lot and most we know are voting Republican, some that have not voted in the past. We actually got a 1.00 raise, then they took 3.00 from the check, and preach they and democrats are for us!

tx

[Spiess]

Yeah I had a guy tell me Bush gave the UPRR a big tax break on Diesel so the UPRR would hire more people, trouble is even if that is true I got hired! so I said I guess I should thank Bush for my job. LOL its pretty sick.

[azTrish]

Most of he rank and file most don't want be seen as thugs ..
but looky at this.



The author, labor editor of the Peoples Weekly World and a 15-year member of IBEW Local 9, can be reached at rwood@pww.org.
IBEW President Ed Hill fired back the next day in a sharply worded statement, saying he wished the union had done a better job instilling its values in the young Cheney when it had a chance. “Perhaps then he would not so relentlessly pursue policies that have caused catastrophic job losses and inflicted tremendous pain on countless working families,” Hill said.

Cheney might have learned that when the IBEW was founded over 100 years ago, one out of two workers in the industry died in falls or electrocutions. Safety standards, as much as wages, drove workers to band together in a brotherhood. On the job, each worker’s life was literally in the hands of his co-worker. In this election season, that vision of solidarity, of workers holding each other’s lives in their hands, has extended to the political arena.

So on a sunny August day, I was proud to be one of many IBEW members who poured into the battleground state of Ohio, crossing state lines to answer our brothers’ and sisters’ call for reinforcements in the battle for jobs and to defeat George Bush.

A Chicago bus, initiated by our city’s Electrical Workers Minority Caucus chapter, left in a pounding rainstorm at 3 in the morning. In Toledo, we paired up with local electricians and went on a 6-hour labor walk visiting union households. Kentuckians came to Cincinnati, Hoosiers to Columbus.

All told, nearly 200 IBEW members were out in force in Ohio that day, including in Cleveland, Akron and Marietta. In our neon-yellow shirts, the electrical workers scattered throughout working class neighborhoods sharing our own stories and election information with the union families we visited.

“Participating in activities like this makes for a different kind of union member,” said my canvassing partner, international rep Thomas Curley, as we went door to door in the east Toledo neighborhood where he grew up.

Local 3 in New York launched the union’s labor walk campaign June 23 with a three-bus convoy, accompanied by two dozen motorcyclists, to Philadelphia. The solidarity buses have continued every Saturday in September and October. This month, Local 3 also mobilized dozens of its unemployed members to staff voter registration tables in 15 hospitals and 15 community colleges over a five-day period, signing up thousands of new voters.

The union’s 2004 National Political Coordinator, Edwin Lopez, sees the activities transforming union members. Political activities are “identifying new activists, creating ways for them to participate, and renewing members’ belief in their union and pride in themselves as union members.”

Lopez worked in the tools as an inside wireman, and then as a Local 3 business rep. He is also a national leader of the Electrical Workers Minority Caucus. He’s a real working class intellectual, combining deep thinking on the problems facing the labor movement with non-stop activism.

“The members are learning first-hand how politics is tied to collective bargaining and to the right to organize. A core of activists is the heart and soul of the union,” he said. “All we have is our members – if our members are not charged up, we have nothing.”

It’s not just the IBEW rank and file that’s charged up. Hill told a recent women’s conference, he found himself saying things he earlier would have called radical, “talking the same talk as the labor leaders of the 1930s. There’s a class war being waged,” Hill said, “even though we didn’t start it.”

It’s working class pride and determination that characterizes the three-pronged approach that Hill has been relentlessly promoting — organizing, political action and emphasis on skills and quality workmanship.”

“The card that the vice president carried was his ticket to decent wages and benefits for the fruits of his labor,” Hill’s response to Cheney stated. “It’s too bad that now he wants to pull up the ladder and deny that same opportunity to others.”

IBEW members are on the road this fall, crossing state lines, to make sure it doesn’t happen. It’s a brotherhood thing, Dick. You wouldn’t understand.

The author, labor editor of the Peoples Weekly World and a 15-year member of IBEW Local 9, can be reached at rwood@pww.org.