[ In the final weekend of the campaign, national leaders of four
of the country’s largest labor unions came to Philadelphia to
convene with candidates and coordinate a last-minute push to reach
voters in the state’s most populous city, a labor stronghold where
Democrats have a 7-to-1 voter registration advantage.]
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IN PHILADELPHIA, ORGANIZED LABOR IS MAKING A FINAL PUSH AS DEMOCRATS
TRY TO WIN BACK WORKING-CLASS VOTERS  
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Anna Orso
November 5, 2022
Philadelphia Inquirer
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_ In the final weekend of the campaign, national leaders of four of
the country’s largest labor unions came to Philadelphia to convene
with candidates and coordinate a last-minute push to reach voters in
the state’s most populous city, a labor stronghold where Democrats
have a 7-to-1 voter registration advantage. _

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Monica Burks has knocked on thousands of doors across low-income
neighborhoods in Philadelphia this year to try to turn out midterm
election voters, and she’s heard it all. But one recent conversation
nearly brought her to tears.

An elderly woman living in North Philadelphia public housing told
Burks, a canvasser with a labor union, that nobody had ever come to
her door before to ask for her vote.

“People are really glad we’re out here,” said Burks, a
61-year-old hotel worker from West Philly. “And it means something
when it’s somebody that knows what they’re going through.”

“People are really glad we’re out here,” said Burks, a
61-year-old hotel worker from West Philly. “And it means something
when it’s somebody that knows what they’re going through.”

Burks is a member of Unite Here, a labor union that represents
Philadelphia hospitality workers and has one of the city’s most
robust get-out-the-vote operations. Democrats are banking on
conversations like the one Burks had in North Philadelphia — done
thousands of times over — to motivate base voters to turn out in
Tuesday’s midterm election.

In the final weekend of the campaign, national leaders of four of the
country’s largest labor unions came to Philadelphia to convene with
candidates and coordinate a last-minute push to reach voters in the
state’s most populous city, a labor stronghold where Democrats have
a 7-to-1 voter registration advantage.

Organized labor
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typically takes a leading role in get-out-the-vote efforts, but the
push this year underscores the national role that voter-rich
Southeastern Pennsylvania can play — particularly as the Senate race
between Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman and Republican Mehmet Oz
appears a dead heat
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and control of the upper chamber is in play.

On Saturday morning, Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO, the largest
labor union conglomerate in the country, rallied in South Philadelphia
with gubernatorial candidate Josh Shapiro
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and a bevy of local elected officials who spoke to 150 workers
preparing to knock on doors through the city.

“All these important labor leaders, national people, are coming into
Pennsylvania because this race is the race,” Shuler said, pointing
to the Senate campaign. “And you all are the most important people
that will make this victory happen.”

She was joined by Lee Saunders, president of the national union that
represents 1.4 million public-sector workers, and Randi Weingarten,
president of the American Federation of Teachers, who had appeared at
several other events on Friday in Philadelphia and Montgomery County.

The last-minute push to reach voters in the region comes as Democrats,
up against already significant headwinds
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this fall, try to win back working-class voters
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who they fear are increasingly drifting to the right. Republicans have
for years made inroads with white working-class voters, and polls show
they’ve become increasingly competitive with Black and brown voters
without college degrees.

Even small shifts in a city like Philadelphia — where people of
color make up a majority of the city — can swing an election.

“If we don’t get the people in Philadelphia to vote in the numbers
we need,” said Philadelphia AFL-CIO President Pat Eiding, “we’re
going to lose out on a governor and a senator who care about us.”

Union leaders who back Democrats hope they can excite voters by
deploying members to deliver their message and sway those who are
considering staying home. Unite Here, for example, has spent months
knocking on doors in working-class communities and targeting people
who often vote in presidential elections but don’t show up in
midterm years.

“So many people have lost faith,” said Rosslyn Wuchinich,
president of Unite Here Local 274. “We’re out there to pull people
back into the process.”

Similarly, the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers revamped its
political operation this year to more specifically target low-income
neighborhoods and lean more heavily on door-knocking and one-on-one
interactions.

Members have knocked on some 10,000 doors and blanketed neighborhoods
with thousands of fliers that compare the education plans of Shapiro
and his Republican opponent, State Sen. Doug Mastriano.
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They’ve sent a combined 60,000 text messages in the last two months,
and they’re not automated, meaning they allow for conversation with
voters via text.

Jerry Jordan, president of the 13,000-member PFT, said the union
“really needed to take a different approach” to emphasize
one-on-one conversations between voters and educators who work in
their neighborhood schools. They’re having conversations with
still-undecided voters, helping residents find their polling place,
and directing people to information about mail voting.

Jordan said his members have found that voters trust the teachers they
know.

“If you’re an educator in that building, the people in that
neighborhood know it, whether they have kids in school or not,” he
said. “They can ask questions. And we can answer them.”

Anna Orso [[link removed]]

I cover Philadelphia City Hall, writing about how power, politics, and
policy shape our city.

* 2022 Elections
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* AFL–CIO
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* Philadelphia AFL-CIO
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