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Nine members of the IBEW joined the "America
Can Do Better" tour through Virginia, West Virginia,
Pennsylvania and New York.
Close Race Inspires
IBEWs Political Activists
October 2004 IBEW
Journal
(continued)
 The
August 28 Chicago delegation, whose members belong to
Local 9, 21 and 134 awoke in Ohio at 7 a.m., where they
were received by members of Toledo-area Locals 8, 245,
1076, 1194, and 1413, who greeted them with a hearty
welcome and much-needed coffee and doughnuts. Then the
walkers donned the IBEWs signature neon greenish-yellow
T-shirts, received a quick orientation and door-to-door
packets, and were paired with Toledo members for six
hours of canvassing.
Electrical Workers Minority Caucus Chairwoman Robbi
Sparks, business manager of Local 2127, flew in from
Georgia for the walk, and members of other labor unions
participated, including those from AFSCME, SEIU, the
plumbers and pipefitters, and laborers. All told, nearly
100 union members fanned out across Toledo, reaching
out to hundreds of their brothers and sisters.
The August 28 Take Back Ohio effort did not stop there.
In Cincinnati, more than 50 walkers from Locals 212,
1347 and 71 (Columbus) joined several members from Kentucky
who bussed in to pound the pavement. Members who traveled
to Cincinnati from out-of-state were from Locals 369
and 2100 in Louisville and 1627 and 2220 in Lexington.
"It was a massive effort," said International
Representative Tom Curley, who took part in the Toledo
walk. "The amazing thing is you hear that there
so many people who are apathetic about politics today
but people from several states away were interested
in what was going on in Ohio because they felt they
could make a difference. If we win Ohio, it could be
because of their efforts."
In Cleveland, 13 members of Local 129 walked. Six members
of Local 306 in Akron went door-to-door and Marietta
Local 972 members also took part. Also on August 28,
walkers from Ohio and Wheeling, West Virginia, members
from Local 141 knocked on doors in West Virginia, which
is another battleground state.
Both Bush and Kerry have visited Ohio frequently throughout
the campaign. But all the political attention showered
on Ohio cannot mask the fact that it has suffered through
the Bush years. The Ohio Department of Job and Family
Services estimates that the state has lost more than
200,000 jobs since Bush took office. The unemployment
rate in July was 6.1 percent, compared to 5.5 percent
nationally.
Hundreds of the jobs lost in Ohio have been manufacturing
jobs held by IBEW members. In March, Thomson closed
its television glass-making plant in Circleville, leaving
500 members to find their way in a job market that has
more low-wage, no-benefit jobs than the ones that pay
living wages and health insurance.
"I have lost 8,000 members in the last two years
just in this district," said Fourth District Vice
President Paul Witte, whose region covers Ohio, Kentucky,
Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of
Columbia. "I have closed out five local unions
and I have three more yet to close that are phasing
out. We have been hit very hard by the Bush administrations
deliberate outsourcing of jobs."
But the state still has a formidable labor presence.
Ohio has more than 5,000 IBEW manufacturing members
working in factories across the state, making power
distribution equipment, vacuum cleaners, lighting fixtures
and electric motors. Manufacturing Department Director
Bob Roberts said the state is still one of the top five
in the country for manufacturing members.
Continued Next Page
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