Nationally the AFL-CIO has eight desks, each responsible for two battleground states. Tanya Bjork, the AFL-CIO desk coordinator for Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois, started in October 2003; she is a former Assembly Democratic Caucus director. Working out of the AFL-CIO office at 2158 Atwood Avenue in Madison, Bjork said the AFL-CIO has organized state into five zones--Western, Madison, Milwaukee/Southeast, Fox Valley/Central and Green Bay--each with one paid staffperson.
Bjork described a "very aggressive program" of member-to-member communications. "Union members talking to union members...it really works," she stated. "You automatically have a connection." "We don't tell our members how to vote," Bjork said. "What we try to do is educate our members." In addition to communicating with members at the workplace, in June the AFL-CIO kicked off a door-to-door program, with members going out each weekend in eight cities (Milwaukee, Racine, Green Bay, Sheboygan, Oshkosh, Appleton, Madison and La Crosse). The AFL-CIO is also making a significant effort to target swing members.
(Below) In the Madison AFL-CIO office, Jon Lipshutz (Zone 2-Madison) uses a scanner to enter walk sheet information, while Steve Kwaterski (Zone 3-Green Bay)shows a typical folder. According to the folder's cover, in Green Bay 1, in the area of West De Pere, they have identified 68 union members in 41 union households; 15 of them are swing. (more)
