Fighting for change

Jerry Hodge, a UAW Local 3520 member and 16-year Freightliner worker, supports candidates who support the Employee Free Choice Act.

With a sagging economy, flat consumer spending, broken banks and rising unemployment, all eyes are on the battle for the White House.

UAW members, however, know election campaigns up and down the ballot make a difference for working families. That's why in states across the county, union activists are involved in races that will determine whether there are enough votes in the next Congress to implement pro-worker policies on behalf of Main Street America.

Like the rest of the country, in North Carolina – a right-to-work state – there's a lot on the line for working families.

Just ask Jerry Hodge, a UAW Local 3520 member and 16-year Freightliner worker. Hodge also serves as vice president of the North and South Carolina Community Action Programs (CAP).

Hodge believes a John McCain administration isn't going to look much different from the current one and is recipe for a failure. He understands how crucial it is to elect worker-friendly candidates, especially those who support the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which would guarantee the right to organize free from employer interference or coercion.

His U.S. Senate candidate is Democrat Kay Hagan, who supports unions, fair trade and EFCA.

"We've been hit hard with the lousy economy, high fuel prices and bad legislation, and it's crippling the Carolina region," said Hodge.

EFCA, which passed the House but remains stalled in the Senate, would allow workers the option of card-check recognition when seeking union representation without any veto power by management.

"It's always tough to build solidarity and a strong labor movement in a hostile environment," Hodge said. "You have to keep peace and be the diplomat because your goal is always to build your local union membership to 100 percent."

Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama supports EFCA saying, "If a majority of workers want a union, they should get a union. It's that simple."

McCain and incumbent Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., both oppose EFCA; President Bush has threatened to veto it.

"McCain's served his country well, and that's an admirable thing. What I can't answer is this: Where are we going to be four years from now if he's president?" Hodge said. "You can't be a superpower in the world when your manufacturing base is stripped down to bare bones, your financial industry is crumbling and your middle class is broken."

Minnesota is another Senate battleground for working families.

With Democrat Al Franken, comedian-turned-politician, making a strong run for the Senate, incumbent Republican Norm Coleman isn't laughing much anymore.

Franken handily defeated six other candidates for the nomination and has continued to gain ground among the state's working families. His campaign is steeped in philosophies shared by the late Sen. Paul Wellstone, a Minnesota Democrat who was a passionate advocate for working families.

"If this economy is not a wakeup call, I don't know what is," said Dan Manuel, UAW Local 125 member and the union's Minnesota State CAP chair.

"I see people suffering every day. The economy is on a deep descent."

A 30-year veteran and EAP representative at Chrysler LLC's Minneapolis plant, Manuel believes the way to get more worker-friendly candidates elected is through grassroots activism.

"Job security, pension protections, better health care, the overall economy — we just have to keep pounding at these issues," said Manuel. "I would say check Norm Coleman's record. He dittoed all of Bush's policies right down the line. We need a change in Washington."

Gwynne Marie Cobb

This portion of this Web site is paid for by the UAW V-CAP (Voluntary Community Action Program), 8000 E. Jefferson, Detroit, MI 48214, with voluntary contributions from union members and their families, and is not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.