January 16, 2004
IUPAT For Dean
Photo: From left to right, Fran and Rick, working hard in the call center at campaign headquarters.
Fran McLoughlin, 41, IUPAT District Council 21, from Philadelphia: "We're volunteering with the Dean campaign in Iowa to hopefully bring him over the top in the Iowa caucuses on Monday, and help to set the tone throughout the rest of the primaries. ...We do a lot of door-knocking and house calls to our membership. ...For the most part, they're pretty receptive when they see another union member coming to their door to talk to them about Howard Dean and the caucuses."
Rick Root, 50, from Kalazoo, IUPAT: "In Iowa, we have a fair amount of members who are registered as Republicans, but have a fair amount of interest in the Democratic caucus. I'm not out in the field every night, I coordinate the guys going out, so I don't have as much interaction as these guys do. But the feedback they give me at night is that our members are very, very excited about the caucus, and in support of Dean. ...Many of them have indicated that they would [show up to the caucus.] It's more of an issue, not of a specific candidate, but it's the issues. It's prescription drugs, it's healthcare, it's jobs.
"And they would like to believe that all the candidates, whether they're Republican or Democrat, are going to be looking at these issues seriously. But it seems like, just because of the nature of caucus, it's really brought a lot of focus to those issues. Even sometimes, I think, more than the candidates themselves. Not thinking that any one candidate is going to be able to change all that and make it better, but just trusting that everyone's level of awareness is raised such that they know it's a serious, serious problem. And I think that once we get past the caucus, and the Republicans get more active in campaigning, even if President Bush doesn't have any opposition, I think they're going to be looking for solutions. Where the nature of the caucus and the primaries around the country seems to be more, 'this is why you need to vote for me,' they're really going to want to hear who's going to address these issues and how they're going to do it. If nothing else, it's raised the level of awareness among Democrats and Republicans about these issues."
What Rick would say to someone who thinks that unions are a special interest group, or that they're unnessecary: "If someone called a union a special interest group, I would just have to respond that union members are working people, and this country is filled with working people. So I don't know how we can be classified as a special interest group. If you went out and asked any worker, whether they're union or not, no matter what job they have, if they believe they should be fairly compensated, with decent wages and benefits for themselves and [their families], who would say no? Who would say, 'No, I don't want to make decent wages and decent benefits.'
"And that's what unions stand for. It doesn't matter what color you are, or what job you're in, it's a constant across the work force in this country. So, are you saying that all working people are a special interest group? That doesn't seem reasonable to me."
Do unions benefit people who aren't in unions: "Unions tend to, all across the country, in almost every state, unions establish what they call a prevailing wage. Which is a standard wage and benefit package, and we call that a fair living wage. And so contractors that are legitimate contractors strive to pay that rate established in those states, established by the union scale. And that's established by the majority of the workers in any given craft in construction, and that is the prevailing wage in that state. So, legitimate contractors tend to pay very, very close to those rates. If those rates didn't exist, to establish the threshold, contractors would probably pay minimum wage with no benefits. So the contractor provides that to working families, whether they're union or not. It just establishes a pay rate in the industry for others to follow."
Posted by natasha at January 16, 2004 08:29 PM | TrackBack