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DEL.ICIO.US‘Thousands’ of union volunteers headed to Georgia for Senate runoff
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The national AFL-CIO is sending up to 2,500 volunteers to Georgia to help Democrat Jim Martin in the U.S. Senate runoff against Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss.
The union organization said it will have 10,000 volunteers working the state over the next two weekends. About three-quarters will be from Georgia, spokeswoman Andrea Gage said Thursday.
Richard Ray, president of the Georgia AFL-CIO, put the number of incoming volunteers in the “thousands.” He said in a telephone interview:
“Our goal is to touch every union member in the state at least six to eight to 10 times. Either by phone call, letter from their local union, letter from us, or a knock on the door. We’re pulling out all stops. This is the biggest thing that I’ve ever been involved in in Georgia. This is the biggie.
“This election is not so much now [about] who is Jim Martin and who is Saxby Chambliss. It’s about who can turn out the votes.”
Ray puts the union vote in Georgia at 325,000. Not an overwhelming number, but a low turnout on Dec. 2 could give it greater impact.
The storm of union activity is to include 550,000 work site flyers, 600,000 phone calls, 610,000 mailings, and knocks on 225,000 doors.
Retired workers from two closed auto assembly sites — the Ford plant in Hapeville and the General Motors plant in Doraville — have already given much time to Martin. They see their pensions jeopardized by Republican calls for the Detroit Three to embrace bankruptcy, Ray said.
“We have a large group of those retirees,” Ray said. “They’ve been working from the very first for Jim. I had a crew that went all around 285 and they put up signs at every exit. And they are mad at what they see not happening for them.”
Republicans are waving the union banner, too. Just not in the same way.
Chambliss posted an article today on redstate.com, arguing that his re-election was necessary to block an effort to make it easier to form unions — by filling out a card rather than by secret ballot.
Wrote Chambliss:
When Georgia voters go to cast their ballot in the December 2 runoff, no one will know who they voted for unless they feel compelled to tell someone. The same should be the case in labor union votes.
True elections are conducted with anonymity for voters. Secret ballots allow people to freely vote their conscious when selecting those who will create and enforce our laws.
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Comments
By jacksmith
November 20, 2008 7:57 PM | Link to this
WE HAVE MORE TO DO:
Democrat Jim Martin is in a runoff against Bush Republican Saxby Chambliss for the Senate seat from Georgia. Bush’s Saxby Chambliss voted against spending a few measly dollars to provide health care coverage for Georgia, and Americas needy children. But he supported wasting hundreds of billions of your dollars, and the life BLOOD of Americas finest on an unnecessary war in Iraq.
At a time when 47 million of you have no health insurance coverage, and over 100 million of you with insurance are just one major illness away from complete financial destruction. Bush and Saxby Chambliss voted to make the heart break of bankruptcy relief even harder for all of you to use.
You see, Bush and Saxby Chambliss, and his family don’t have to worry about their health care coverage. They have the finest health care coverage your tax money can buy for them. Courtesy of you. The American Tax payer. In fact, no one but the super rich can afford the health care coverage you the tax payer provide for Saxby Chambliss, and his family for FREE! with your tax dollars.
He supposedly works for you. But he doesn’t think you and your family should have access to the type of taxpayer supported FREE health care that you provide for him, and his loved ones for FREE!. Doesn’t that just make you BURRING MAD!
Vote for JIM MARTIN for US senator from Georgia. Vote for JIM Martin who will be on your side. Vote for JIM MARTIN who will work with President Obama and a majority congress for you. Vote for JIM MARTIN most of all for your-self, your family’s, friends, and loved ones. Vote for JIM MARTIN for a better America, and a better World.
Don’t let Saxby Chambliss make a chump out of you by tricking you into voting against your own best interest. Saxby chambliss is NOT! on your side. He’s not one of you. He is on George Bush’s side. And we all know what a catastrophe the Bush Chambliss administration has been the past 8 years.
Contact all your family and friends and do every thing you can to see to it that JIM MARTIN and GEORGIANS! take that senate seat back for Georgia, and America. No matter where you live in America. This is important to you. President Obama will need all the help, and power you can give him to try and fix this catastrophic mess that the Corrupt Bush Chambliss administration has created.
As I said before you will have to vote in overwhelming numbers to overcome the Bush Chambliss “Let Them Eat Cake” vote fraud machine. Vote early if you can. Then help everyone you can get to the polls and vote for JIM MARTIN. You and your loved ones don’t have to be Saxby Chambliss’s victims anymore.
I know you will get it done. Just like you did for President Obama.
God bless all of you
jacksmith - WORKING CLASS… :-)
By ccyr
November 20, 2008 10:19 PM | Link to this
Union Members should wake up. The Democrats control BOTH HOUSES of Congress. They don’t need a SINGLE GOP vote to pass the Auto Bailout. But when it comes to saving union pensions, Harry Reid just threw the UAW under the Bus. Unions can’t count on Democrats when their backs are against the wall. When the UAW needed the Democrats, the Democrats went on recess.
By that_guy
November 20, 2008 11:01 PM | Link to this
How much does Georgia, and America for that matter, owe the UAW? Nothing.
Don’t get me wrong, unions can serve an important function in aggregating employee interests to provide for a say in working conditions and the like, but Detroit largely has the UAW and AFL-CIO to thank for its current quagmire. GM is a healthcare company that tries to sell cars on the side thanks to the shenanigans of the unions that threaten for higher and higher wages and benefits when the company can’t produce vehicles worth a d*mn.
Toyota isn’t asking for a bailout. Nissan and Honda aren’t lining up at the trough, either, despite their recent declines on Wall Street.
A business survives so long as it makes money. It cannot make money when it pays out more than it takes in (both at management and labor levels), and with Americans cutting back across the board, one can reasonably expect to take less in for some time to come. But current situation only highlights the inability of the big three to chart sensible business plans over the last several decades.
Detroit, like much of this nation, has grown fat and complacent, resting on its laurels as America’s other pastime. The cars are unreliable (e.g., Chevy Malibu anyone?), the business model doesn’t make sense (more dealerships and product lines than one can count), and the employment contracts are unsustainable.
Don’t bail out Detroit with some ham-handed, government-to-the-rescue, public risk private gain money shower. Let them fail, and let companies with the assets and smarts buy them up and turn them around. To quote, “America doesn’t do jobs for life.”
We have a right to pursue happiness, not demand the government use tax dollars to prop up moribund employers who cannot deliver quality products anymore.
Detroit might get my tax dollars from the feckless boobs in Washington, but no Big Three manufacturer will get my patronage again.
By cnote
November 21, 2008 9:39 AM | Link to this
The whole reason GA still has jobs and Michigan doesn’t is due to our lack of unions. The last thing we need is 2,500 hundred union thugs coming in from Detroit, hoping Jim Martin votes to force the average Georgian, who makes half of what the union guys do, to send a bunch of their hard-earned money to Detroit for a bailout of their obscene contracts.
By Sissy Saxby
November 21, 2008 9:46 AM | Link to this
Sissy Saxby supported the bailout of Wall Street. But that was okay, because bankers aren’t in a union.
By Edster
November 21, 2008 10:55 AM | Link to this
To CNote, boy are you off. This article just said there is 7% unemmployment in GA and that is without having lots of unions. Non-union workers get laid off too and they have no say in the matter. In fact, non-union workers WILL have their benefits and pay cut without any discussion with workers because without a union contract, you have no say. You also said union workers make more money than non-union workers. Thanks for making that clear to all the Georgians who want to improve their lives. When given the opportunity to improve their standard of living, there is not faster and secure way than joining a union. Why do you think Big Business (and their advocates-Chambliss!) are against this? The increase in pay will have to come from shareholders and the upper echelons of the companies.
And as for the problems of the auto industry, paying union workers a decent wage and good benefits is not why Americans buy foreign cars. The UAW doesn’t design the cars, and they didn’t develop the short sighted strategy of building SUVs and trucks instead of fuel efficient cars.
So, Cnote, please don’t allow your anti-union bias to cloud your judgement and make non-sensical comments. If we don’t figure out what really is at the root causes of our current economic problems, then we’ll devise solutions that may make matters worse.
By OIRHJ
November 21, 2008 11:28 AM | Link to this
THIS JUST IN FROM THE GA DEPT OF LABOR: STATE EMPLOYMENT IS AT 93%
By OIRHJ
November 21, 2008 11:39 AM | Link to this
GA LABOR DEPT UPDATE: OF THE 7% UNEMPLOYED, 3% WON’T GO TO WORK.
By jacksmith
November 21, 2008 7:24 PM | Link to this
Vote for Jim Martin on Dec. 3rd. Democrat runoff day is the 3rd. Republican runoff day is on Dec 2nd. Do not let Saxby try to steal this election by having you vote on the wrong day. Martin is the man!!!!! Saxby is bad.
By BillyC
November 21, 2008 9:06 PM | Link to this
To jacksmith, you’re a liar. There is only one election day: December 2. Shame on you.
By Copyleft
November 22, 2008 10:45 AM | Link to this
Don’t sweat it, BillyC. “JackSmith” was trying this same idiocy before the November election, and it just shows how desperate and pathetic the far-right losers have become.
It also shows how successful their silly tactics are.
PRESIDENT OBAMA, losers! SUCK ON IT!
By Dan1967
November 22, 2008 5:23 PM | Link to this
Get to the polls and vote for Jim Martin! Where are the Southern Democrats? The Democrats have always been the party of the middle class and the working people.
Franklin Roosevelt was our greatest President and he served 4 terms in office. Franklin Roosevelt was a Democrat who created the unions, and he was the first President to advocate for and support the rights of American workers.
Don’t be blinded by the right wing ideology and disasterous economic policies of Bush and Chambliss. Chambliss is the same as Bush. A Republican is a Republican. The Republicans feed the rich and hate the poor.
The Republicans could care less about the middle class and keeping jobs here in America. The Republicans could care less about a balanced budget, our environment, health care, or investing money to create jobs here in our own country.
Say NO to the policies of Bush and Chambliss by voting for Jim Martin in Georgia!
By Dan1967
November 22, 2008 5:29 PM | Link to this
Vote for Jim Martin on Dec. 3rd. Democrat runoff day is the 3rd. Republican runoff day is on Dec 2nd. Do not let Saxby try to steal this election by having you vote on the wrong day. Martin is the man!!!!! Saxby is bad.
By UNIONS SUCK
November 29, 2008 10:21 PM | Link to this
Vote Saxby on Dec 2nd so that “Card Check” doesn’t get passed. This single act would ruin manufacturing in America.
I worked as a Manager a Union manufacturing plant for 3 years. I have never been around such lazy, worthless, miserable people in my life, all because of the union culture.
I have become so anti-union because of my experience that I will not purchase anything that I know is union made. I just bought a new Toyota and love. Let the big 3 go under and take the UAW with it.
Anyone who thinks that unions are good for business are ignorant.
PS: Jim Martin looks like a perv.