ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, March 17, 1996 TAG: 9603150092
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: G-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: KEVIN GALVIN ASSOCIATED PRESS
After watching its political influence wane for decades, the AFL-CIO is investing millions in organizing and political campaigns in 1996 to prove that union money and manpower still matter.
Traditional labor issues are moving to the core of electoral politics, and the labor movement is already savoring its first victory of the year.
Hundreds of union members coordinated by the federation supported Ron Wyden's bid in Oregon's special Senate race. Wyden credited his win to their phone calls, mailings and other efforts to contact 100,000 voters.
``Organized labor put Ron Wyden over the top,'' said Vice President Al Gore, noting that the AFL-CIO's new leaders ``put a lot of people on the ground in key roles, organizing voters and getting the message out.''
Wyden, who last month won the seat vacated by Republican Bob Packwood by just 18,220 votes, said that ``what labor did, with the grassroots effort and by being there early, was absolutely critical.''
The nadir of labor's influence came in 1993, when President Clinton signed the North American Free Trade Agreement over threats of revenge at the polls. At labor's winter meeting in Bal Harbour, Fla., last month, the message was that labor aimed to regain its clout.
To back up the message, the AFL-CIO executive council approved aggressive recruitment and political campaigns proposed by the federation's newly elected president, John Sweeney.
``We're going to mount a political action effort of unprecedented scale, with every union doing its share by contributing ideas, money, staff, media and materials,'' Sweeney said.
The federation plans to spend $35 million to register workers to vote and educate them about candidates' records. Add to that the contributions individual unions make to candidates and campaign committees, and political organizers being dispatched to create a base of 100 activists in every congressional district.
Steve Rosenthal, the federation's political director, said organizers would work through every union and local labor council to build a corps of union members who will lobby co-workers and neighbors.
``There will be a pledge that we will be asking members to sign where they will agree to work 30 hours during the course of this election to move issues important to working families forward,'' Rosenthal said. ``We used this in Oregon. We signed up about 300 rank-and-file members ... to be active in the campaign - and beyond the campaign.''
If successful, such a national grassroots organization would represent a large block of voters. The Christian Coalition, which claims about a million members, is a major influence on Republican politics largely through its dedicated grassroots activists. The AFL-CIO counts 13 million members.
Yet those union members are but a fraction of the total work force. Until labor bulks up its ranks, its social and political sway will be in question. Sweeney pledged to spend $20 million on recruitment.
``We cannot bargain decent contracts for our members, nor can we obtain public policies that protect working families, unless we can build a substantially larger labor movement,'' Sweeney said.
Union presidents were pleased that attacks on corporate greed and laments for dwindling wages - two familiar labor themes - are resonating in the presidential campaign.
But unless the federation's outreach efforts are effective, conservative Pat Buchanan could stake claim to those issues. While labor leaders roundly criticized Buchanan, some privately acknowledged that his brand of economic populism appealed to their members.
Many blue-collar workers who voted for Ronald Reagan voted Republican again when the GOP swept Congress in 1994. Since then, unions have found a host of worker protections under congressional attack and most labor leaders have put aside grudges against Democrats over NAFTA.
Doug Dority, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers, said labor's lackluster political effort was partly to blame for the 1994 results. But he acknowledged that the diversity of opinion among labor's ranks makes it difficult to deliver the labor vote.
``Our members are like all of America,'' Dority said. ``They make up their own minds. They're very independent.''
Hence the $35 million emphasis on educating and registering voters. American Federation of State, Municipal and County Employees President Gerald McEntee said, for example, that once workers compare Buchanan's rhetoric with his stands on labor issues they won't support him.
``We don't believe that the American labor movement is going to lose its message,'' McEntee said. ``Our message is broader than what Pat Buchanan is talking about. It's a message we've had for a long period of time.''
LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines KEYWORDS: POLITICSby CNB