Targeting key battleground states in the presidential election and accompanied by 51 disenfranchised workers, organized labor on Wednesday plans to kick off a weeklong bus tour of areas hit hard by job losses, in what some are calling a grass-roots attack on the Bush administration's economic policies.þþStarting with a rally in downtown St. Louis, the ÿShow Us the Jobsÿ tour will stop in cities and small towns in Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania before finishing in Washington, D.C.þþTour organizers say the trek through the heartland is meant to show the devastating impact of long-term unemployment and low wages on America's workers.þþBut labor experts say it is a concerted effort by Democrats in general, and organized labor in particular, to keep President Bush's record on the economy and jobsout front as the key issue in the presidential race. Some say those were the main reasons his father lost the 1992 election.þþÿIf the election is not about jobs and the state of the economy, then the chances of defeating George Bush are much smaller,ÿ said Robert Bruno, associate professor of labor studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago. ÿThey hope to keep the agenda focused rightly on where they think it should be.ÿþþThe tour's sponsors are the AFL-CIO, the umbrella organization for 13 million union workers, and Working America, a group founded by union leaders last fall to give voice to non-union workers who are unhappy with Bush.þþKaren Nussbaum, executive director of Working America, said the tour is not about politics but about the issues, including the outsourcing of jobs overseas, downsizing by corporations, underemployment and long-term joblessness. Nussbaum said the group has 125,000 members.þþBut Kent Wong, director of the Center for Labor Research and Education at the University of California at Los Angeles, said it is no accident that labor is targeting Midwestern states that have experienced dramatic job losses, especially in manufacturing.þþÿThe AFL-CIO has made the defeat of George Bush a major political priority this year,ÿ Wong said. ÿThis campaign is very much designed to bring attention to the concerns of unemployed and underemployed Americans and to highlight the loss of jobs during the Bush administration. These states have been identified as crucial.ÿþþIn 2000, when organized labor played a prominent role in Al Gore's campaign, he won five of the states on the tour, Bush won three, and all were close races with the exception of Gore's victory in Pennsylvania.þþIt is also no surprise, some say, that the tour will bypass Illinois, a state that political forecasters believe will be an easy win for Democrat John Kerry.þþÿIf you can win the Midwest, then maybe you don't have to win Florida,ÿ Bruno said. ÿI'm sure [the tour] is tied to a larger strategic plan as to where [labor unions] see John Kerry winning or coming up short, and also places where they have a decent number of members.ÿþþStill a forceþþUnions have experienced a steady decline in membership, falling to 12.9 percent of the workforce last year from 13.2 percent in 2002 and 20.1 percent 20 years ago. Their share of the private labor force fell to 8.2 percent last year from 8.5 percent in 2002.þþÿAlthough the percentage of unionized members continues to decrease ... their representation in the political process is significantly higher than that if you count the union members who vote regularly and the union households,ÿ Wong said. ÿThese are the voters that make a critical difference.ÿþþBelieving there is safety in numbers, organized labor has been reaching out to non-union workers in the last two years as never before. The 51 workers on the tour--one from every state and the District of Columbia--are almost equally union and non-union. Their stories reflect the economic hardships in their hometowns and around the country.þþFor Scott Pennington, a carpenter from Helena, Mont., work has been sporadic since two of the largest union contractors in town shut down. The 33-year-old single father was laid off two weeks ago from a job he started in January. These days, Pennington, who lives in a mobile home with his 8-year-old son, Lance, doesn't bother to make a grocery list.þþÿI have to limit myself to buying whatever's on sale,ÿ he said.þþArlene Dombrosky, 62, of Jim Thorpe, Pa., was a garment worker for 36 years before being laid off in October 2002 when her employer moved production overseas. Now, Dombrosky, who gets by on her widow's pension, spends most of her time babysitting her grandchildren and great-grandchildren and volunteering at a local blood bank and the fire department.þþÿThere are no factories anymore. There used to be 30 in our area. We have three left,ÿ said Dombrosky, who believes her age is also a factor in her inability to find work. ÿI applied ... but they're not hiring. Those jobs are going overseas shortly.ÿþþStephen Moore, 23, of East Matunuck, R.I., was among the top graduates in his class in the fall of 2001 from Manhattanville College in Purchase, N.Y., earning a bachelor's degree in political science with a double minor in history and Spanish.þþToday, Moore works three low-wage jobs--two of them an hour's drive from his home--without benefits. He coaches a high school lacrosse team, teaches skiing and tends bar while attending graduate school.þþÿI've done pretty much everything you can imagine to pay the bills,ÿ said Moore, who owes $60,000 in student loans. ÿI didn't have immediate plans to go to graduate school. But I'd go to interviews ... and no matter how good my resume looked, there always seemed to be somebody else.ÿþþBeverly Smith, 52, of Hartford, Conn., a licensed practical nurse, lost her job more than a year ago when the state pulled funding from a research project that took a holistic approach to preventing the spread of HIV among African-American males.þþTo make ends meet, Smith cashed in her life insurance policy and regularly visits food pantries. She recently dropped her health insurance, though she suffers from high blood pressure, arthritis and chronic back and shoulder pain.þþÿI just knew I was going to be in the position where I couldn't pay [my bills],ÿ said Smith, a widow. ÿI open my mail once a week. I don't need that pressure every day. I was beginning to stress myself out.ÿþþSmith said she hopes that hard-luck stories like hers and others on the tour will touch the hearts of lawmakers ÿto let them know how desperate we are. We want to work.ÿþþVarious forumsþþOn the tour, the impact of the job crisis will be addressed in a wide range of forums.þþDuring a stopover in Cleveland, the Labor Department's proposed changes to overtime eligibility rules will be discussed. In Des Moines, there will be a round-table discussion on the impact of joblessness on children.þþIn Minneapolis, tour participants will visit a food pantry in a well-to-do suburb that has seen an increase in demand for assistance even though it has $300,000 homes.þþAnd in Youngstown, Ohio, where three surrounding counties have seen housing foreclosures double in recent years, there will be a press conference on the lawn of a foreclosed home.þþNussbaum said one aim of the tour is to put a face on the jobs crisis. She also hopes participants' stories dispel the economic myths she believes the administration is spreading.þþÿWe've been struck here by the sense that you can say that the economy is doing well and get away with it,ÿ she said. ÿThe story of what people are going through is not coming across at all.ÿþ
Source: Chicago Tribune
