Chicago Tribune, August 11, 2004, Wednesday

Copyright 2004 Chicago Tribune Company
Chicago Tribune

August 11, 2004 Wednesday
Chicago Final Edition


SECTION: NEWS ; ZONE C; Pg. 9
HEADLINE: Union leaders vow all-out effort on Kerry's behalf
BYLINE: By Stephen Franklin, Tribune staff reporter.

BODY:
Despite dwindling ranks, the nation's union leaders predicted Tuesday that organized labor will put on a stunning show of muscle come Election Day.
"We will have the finest political effort in the history of the labor movement," declared AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, echoing a vow he has repeated over the years.
But AFL-CIO and other union leaders, who are plotting their strategy this week in Chicago on behalf of Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, said this year's effort will be different. They promised stepped-up spending, greater mobilization of union members and more attention to the nuts and bolts of getting out the vote.
The AFL-CIO, the umbrella organization for many of the nation's unions, will spend $44million on campaign efforts, up $3 million from four years ago. And two large unions also will be major spenders.
The 1.6 million-member Service Employees International Union expects to spend $65 million, nearly triple its spending in the 2000 election.Similarly, the 1.5 million-member American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees will spend $40 million, an increase of more than $8 million from four years ago.
While most of the union leaders gathered in Chicago talk of the need to put a Democrat in the White House, that view is not unanimous. Three unions--the Carpenters, Seafarers and Operating Engineers--have remained neutral so far, according to AFL-CIO officials. The United Brotherhood of Carpenters withdrew from the AFL-CIO in 2001.
Bolstering its political war chest has become a key strategy for organized labor. And while it has not outspent businesses, it has learned how to take better advantage of a natural strength --its rank and file.
Indeed, the service employees union expects more than 2,004 members to register and rally voters in so-called battleground states. Likewise, officials said many AFSCME offices would empty in coming weeks to help Kerry.
The unions also are planning for 25,000 members to go door to door and reach about 1 million union voters on the night of Sept. 2, when President Bush is scheduled to accept the Republican nomination.
Saying they learned from four years ago, the unions also will assign teams to identify and monitor communities with histories of problems at polling places. More than 1,000 labor lawyers have offered to staff the effort, union officials said.
"They are really serious about it," said Richard Hurd, a labor expert at Cornell University, adding that the unions appear to be putting out more effort. Hurd predicted that union officials also are likely to hold politicians more accountable to their promises.

NOTES: CAMPAIGN 2004: LABOR STRATEGY