AFL-CIO: Union Members Positioned to Help Swing Election in Wisconsin on Nov. 2

Contact: Sara Rogers
Gabrielle Coppola
GOTV Rallies, Phone Banks and Neighborhood Walks Fill Final Days

WISCONSIN, November 1— Wisconsin union members are hitting the streets for walks, rallies, and phone banks in hundreds of communities across the state for the final days of the largest member mobilization and political program in AFL-CIO history. The union movement has more than tripled its mobilization efforts over 2000, and is positioned to be one of the most important voices among voters in key states.

In the largest member mobilization in Wisconsin’s history, the union movement has marshaled 322 full-time staff, recruited 11,522 volunteers, set up 15 phone banks with 184 lines, and distributed 2,115,100 leaflets across the state. Union members have been knocking on doors seven days a week and phone calling hundreds of their co-workers. Over the weekend, members in Janesville joined AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, UAW President Ron Gettelfinger, and several other Wisconsin leaders for a GOTV rally that ended with members hitting the streets to spread the message that working families need a change in the White House.

Union household members in Wisconsin are one out of three voters and represented 32 percent of the electorate in Wisconsin in 2000. Union members voted for the working family ticket by a 63 to 32 percent margin in 2000, according to election night polling by Peter D. Hart Research Associates.

Research shows the union program is effective. In 2004, more than 90 percent of union members will receive information through multiple contacts. In 2000, 62 percent of union members decided their vote based on the issues, compared to 12 percent who vote by party.

As the statewide coordinating body for all AFL-CIO unions in Wisconsin, the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO determines union policy on state issues, speaks for working men and women on matters of public concern, provides services to local unions, and coordinates political and legislative action with its over 1,000 affiliated unions which represent over 250,000 members in the state.