Labor '96 Turnaround

Just two years ago America's workers were facing a disaster. President Clinton's re-election campaign didn't seem to have a prayer of succeeding. Congress had come under radical-right control with Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) predicting his majority would grow even larger in the 1996 elections.

That's when AFSCME Pres. Gerald W. McEntee and AFL-CIO Pres. John Sweeney began a daring move to revitalize the American labor movement within the political process. Labor '96 was the result. The election outcome indicates that American labor is alive and well and energized.

The purpose of Labor '96 was to educate union members about the important issues facing them in this election year and to encourage them to vote for candidates who supported working families. These statistics show it was an overwhelming success:

• When union households knew the facts, they rejected the Dole-Gingrich agenda: 59 percent of union households voted for Clinton; 29 percent for Dole. Compare that with Clinton's 46 to 45 percent lead in non-union households.
• Union households voted for Democratic congressional candidates by a margin of 63 percent to 35 percent.
• Union households accounted for 23 percent of the overall vote-up from 19 percent in 1992 and 14 percent in 1994.
• Four million more members of union households voted in 1996 than in 1992, defying the national trend which shows an 8 million drop in voters among the general population.
• In every region of the country, except the South where union membership is low, Democrats gained seats.

Setting the agenda. While the numbers are important, it is even more meaningful that organized labor was able to set the agenda of the 1996 campaign.

For the first time in years, Democrats and Republicans talked about working families and their needs. In fact, many Congressional followers of Gingrich and Dole had deathbed conversions during the campaign-voting for an increase in the minimum wage and the Kennedy-Kassebaum health care bill.

"We set the agenda, transformed the debate," said McEntee. "We made it clear that we wanted the candidates to discuss the economic issues that affect everyday, working Americans. Without a doubt, we accomplished that."

These outcomes were achieved despite the fact that, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, big business outspent labor 7-to-1. Of the 45 Labor '96 priority districts, the 26 Republican wins resulted where the Republican candidates raised an average of $570,000 more than their Democratic opponents. Even the 19 defeated Republicans had raised, on average, $100,000 more than their opponents.

The 1996 election is just the beginning of the battle to strengthen the voice of working families on the critical issues they face. Labor '96 had an additional role: to develop grassroots leaders who will hold their elected officials accountable and prepare for engagement in future election campaigns. That is the next step, and thousands of union members across the country are ready to take it.

By Susan Ellen Holleran