The labor movement is flexing its boots-on-the-ground strength before Election Day Nov. 5 – and IBEW members are leading the charge for labor endorsed candidates.
Across the country, thousands of union members are targeting voters at work and in their homes with visits and phone calls.
In Janesville, Wis. on Oct. 26, the IBEW participated in a huge canvass launch with Gov. Tony Evers, Sen. Tammy Baldwin, and other friends of labor. Nearly 80 IBEW members, including IBEW Sixth District Vice President Michael Clemmons, turned out for the rally.
Wisconsin resident Dean Warsh, Sixth District renewable energy international representative, credited a solid IBEW and coordinated labor campaign for reaching many union members.
“It’s unbelievable what we are getting done,” Warsh said, adding that IBEW members are responding to the long list of Biden-Harris actions over the past four years. “When you start talking about their pensions, people listen pretty close.”
In Western Pennsylvania, including Pittsburgh, the labor movement has reached more than 150,000 union members since Aug. 28. It is the largest effort in the history of the union movement in the area, said Darrin Kelly, president of the Allegheny County Labor Council.
“Pennsylvania is the most important state this year and you don’t win Pennsylvania without Western Pennsylvania,” Kelly said. “We know the role we play and we are going to win.”
Using sophisticated voter data, union volunteers visit neighborhoods daily to door-knock and have conversations with fellow union members. Members share the message with their brothers and sisters: Kamala Harris is the only choice for union voters.
“We all know each union has specific issues,” Kelly said. “We all know the stakes.”
The AFL-CIO says it has launched its largest union voter mobilization, engaging more than 7 million union voters through mail, person-to-person contact, digital ads, and even personalized letters from local union leaders.
“This election, the AFL-CIO is running clear through the finish line—because union members’ jobs, contracts, and freedoms are on the line,” said Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO. “We’ve spent every moment the last few months reaching union households with facts on how Kamala Harris will champion working people’s priorities.”
Cranbury, N.J. Local 94 retired member Jeff Clawson spent several days canvassing the Pittsburgh suburbs with the AFL-CIO. “I’m out here to support union pensions and democracy over dictatorship,” he said.
The IBEW is enjoying momentum from two months of phone banking by IBEW members in Nevada, said Ninth District International Representative James Halsey. On Nov. 3, the IBEW hosted a canvass launch in Henderson, outside Las Vegas, with Ninth District International Vice President Dave Reaves.
“We are focused on getting the job done,” Halsey said of the team effort in the swing state. “We are doing everything we can to make Nevada blue.”
