Bread and Butter Politics

Ohio AFSCME members are working to educate fellow workers and hold public officials accountable.

Cincinnati, Ohio

Renita Jones-Street knows what she wants from her U.S. representative. "My issue is, who's going to keep working people working?" said the Cincinnati parks worker and AFSCME Local 250 (Council 8) vice president. "Who will support working men and women?"

As a workplace coordinator for the AFL-CIO's Labor '96 campaign, Jones-Street isn't keeping these questions to herself.

She and her fellow AFSCME members are among the thousands of people across the country who have chosen to make a difference in this election by joining Labor '96.

What is at stake? "Jobs. Health care. Jobs. Safety. Jobs," said Jones-Street, who is working with her AFSCME sisters and brothers to educate workers in Ohio's 1st Congressional District.

In that district, Democrat Mark Longabaugh is challenging Republican Steve Chabot, a freshman in the U.S. House of Representatives with a 3 percent pro-worker voting record.

"We gave Chabot a chance and he blew it," said Sandy Felty, another Labor '96 volunteer. Her AFSCME brothers and sisters--Cincinnati natives who are also workplace coordinators--nodded in agreement.

Their disappointment will not go unnoticed. As is true throughout Ohio, AFSCME has long been a force to contend with in Cincinnati area politics.

These workers aren't only worried about their own district, though. They are thinking nationally.

At stake. Nate Coleman is concerned about what could happen if legislators continue to vote against the interests of workers. "We have a lot to lose," said the AFSCME Local 11/Ohio Civil Service Employees Association (OCSEA) Local 3180 president. "Overtime, sick time, health care."

Elouise Carter agrees. She believes unions themselves may be at risk. "If we get people like Chabot in the Senate, House, White House--you can forget about the laws protecting collective bargaining," said the AFSCME Local 1543 (Council 8) president.

As a public school secretary, Sandy Felty has a front-row view of the danger legislators like Chabot represent to the children in her school. "We have kids where the [school] lunch they have on Friday could be the last meal they have until lunch on Monday," said the AFSCME Local 4/Ohio Association of Public School Employees (OAPSE) Local 178 secretary. "I don't think the politicians who are proposing these cuts--like Newt Gingrich--get it."

Geneva Bates is worried about what would happen if pension protections are defeated and Medicare is cut. "We save and save for our retirement. But we've got to take care of our parents. So when we get old, who's going to take care of us?" asked the OAPSE Local 174 member. Both Bates and Felty serve on the executive board for OAPSE's southwest district--Bates as an alternate and Felty as a member.

All of these workers believe these issues are important enough that they and their union should be involved. But they didn't always think that way about elections and politics.

A new day. When Geneva Bates and Sandy Felty were growing up, they thought politics was not something polite people discussed in public. They think differently now.

Said Felty, "It's not politics like it was for our parents. As public employees, it's our livelihood. It's our bread and butter. Not just ours, but our kids' and grandkids' as well."

Bates thinks apathy is the biggest challenge in this election and she talks to people at work, finds out whether they are registered and plan to vote. She said, "I remind [other] African Americans how much people went through to get the right to vote."

But voting is not the end of the line. Said Bates, "After the election, we'll be out there again."

These five AFSCME members agree that, once elected, their public officials need to be held accountable to working families. Jones-Street describes political action as "an ongoing process. It never ends."

For officials they send to Columbus or Washington, D.C., this can mean an unending torrent of phone calls, letters and visits to the legislator's office.

"You have to be vocal about it," said Bates. "You have to let them know. Not in two years, not in four years, but all along the way."

By Alison S. Lebwohl