The Denver Post, September 1, 2008, Monday

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The Denver Post

September 1, 2008, Monday

FINAL EDITION

SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. A-01

HEADLINE: As numbers slip, labor organizes big election push

BYLINE: Andy Vuong The Denver Post

BODY:

As the country kicks back on this three-day Labor Day weekend, organized labor is fully engaged in its most pivotal election in years, both nationally and in Colorado.

Unions are focused on reversing a decades-long trend of membership decline, and they've pinned their hopes on the Democratic Party and presidential nominee Barack Obama.

Labor's abundant manpower and hefty war chest are also squarely aimed at Colorado, where a contentious, union-restricting measure will be on the November ballot. Members of the powerful United Food and Commercial Workers union canvassed the Taste of Colorado festival in Denver over the weekend as part of its fight against the right-to-work measure.

Meanwhile, a service-workers union representing 2 million members is holding its first "Take Back Labor Day Festival" today in Minnesota, near the site of this week's Republican National Convention.

The activity comes after labor flexed its muscle at last week's Democratic National Convention in Denver, holding rallies and fundraisers and sponsoring wide-ranging events from MTV's youth-voter-outreach program to a solar-power demonstration.

Big Labor has pledged tens of millions of dollars and countless hours to end the two-term White House run of Republicans who have enacted policies opposed by union officials, including foreign-trade measures.

"This is the most important election in my lifetime, because everything is at stake," said Terry O'Sullivan, general president of the Laborers' International Union of North America.

Union membership in the United States has dwindled from about a third of the workforce in the 1950s to 22 percent in the early 1980s to about 12 percent in 2007.

"If there's four more years of a Republican administration, they're not going to be able to rebound," said Gary Chaison, a professor of labor relations at Clark University's Graduate School of Management.

At the heart of labor's revival hopes is the federal Employee Free Choice Act, which would make it easier to organize workplaces by eliminating the secret-ballot requirement in union elections. The proposed legislation would make it mandatory, instead of voluntary, for businesses to recognize a union if a majority of their employees sign a union card.

"You have to realize that over the past eight years, our labor laws have deteriorated," said John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO, the nation's largest union organization, representing 10.5 million members. "This is about allowing workers to have a democratic process."

Opponents say eliminating the private vote would open workers to peer pressure and intimidation from union organizers.

Obama is a co-sponsor of the legislation. But the act not only needs a supportive president - it needs more Democrats in the Senate, where it stalled this year amid heavy opposition from Republicans. Another push is expected next year.

"Unions see the Employee Free Choice Act as their No. 1 legislative priority," Chaison said. "It's very much tied in with the future of union growth."

Despite their declining ranks, unions have boosted, or at least maintained, their clout within the Democratic Party.

"They've demonstrated an increased ability to communicate with their own membership, to get them to the polls and vote for the candidates that labor endorses," said Richard Hurd, a labor-studies professor at Cornell University.

Sweeney and Anna Burger, chairwoman of Change to Win, a coalition of unions representing 6 million members, were granted speaking slots during the DNC.

"It's a very clear indication that the Democratic Party is courting the labor movement," Chaison said.

And though the DNC has come and gone, the focus will remain on Colorado through the fall.

Jess Knox, head of the union-backed Protect Colorado's Future, said his group will spend at least $20 million and as much as $35 million in Colorado on the November election.

The group's priority will be to keep Colorado from becoming the nation's 23rd right-to- work state, where union membership or the payment of dues cannot be mandated as a condition of employment. Business interests, led by brewery heir Jonathan Coors, are behind the right-to-work measure, which will appear on the ballot as Amendment 47.

Money poured in at a fundraiser last week held by Protect Colorado's Future, which is not only fighting Amendment 47 but also pushing a pair of pro-labor ballot initiatives.

"You're getting a $5,000 check from Unite Here," one official nonchalantly told Knox as he discussed how the right-to-work measure has bonded workers across the country.

"This is not a Colorado fight," Knox said. "This is a national fight."

Staff writer Greg Griffin contributed to this report.

Andy Vuong: 303-954-1209 or avuong@denverpost.com

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22%

Portion of the U.S. workforce that belonged to a union during the 1980s, down from about one-third in the 1950s

12%

Unionized workers in 2007

LOAD-DATE: September 2, 2008