North Texas Unionists take pride in 2016 Effort!
Mark York of the Dallas CLC and Tim Smith of the Tarrant CLC said the victory by Victoria Neave – the labor-backed candidate for Texas House District 107 – was the product of a painstaking process that saw to it that union voters heard about the importance of voting for candidates backed by the Committee on Political Education (COPE).
[caption caption="Watching election returns for Victoria Neave"]
“The national picture was bleak, but in Dallas and Fort Worth, working people made advances on Election Day,” York said. “In DFW, union members knocked on more than 10,000 doors, targeting nearly 15,000 working families to turn out in our key targeted districts. As is usually the case, we believe union members and our families turned out disproportionately to our numbers.” York summarizes our results: "We swept every Dallas county local race, re elected every congressional and state candidate and flipped a house seat all awhile getting over 61% of the vote for Hillary Clinton.
See more on our web site. For a video of our election night watch party, click here.
TPP IS the Next Big Fight
The AFL-CIO expects President Obama to attempt to pass the "Trans Pacific Partnership" unfair trade bill during this lame duck congress. The reasoning is that congresspersons who have retired or who lost their elections will vote for it no matter what their constituents may think. Working peope must unite in opposition and let our elected representatives know. Click Here to Download TPP Talking Points
Was Labor Finished?
On this day in 1887, November 11, four Haymarket martyrs were hanged in Chicago. People said that the American labor movement would never survive.
On this day in 1919, a confrontation between American Legionnaires and Wobblies (Industrial Workers of the World) during an Armistice Day Parade in Centralia, Wash., resulted in six deaths. One Wobbly reportedly was beaten, and had his teeth bashed in with a rifle butt. He was castrated and hanged: local officials listed his death as a suicide and said that American labor would never survive. Fortunately, American labor wasn't listening!
More Actions Coming Up
Nov 11, 9A: "Workers Beat" program on KNON.org and 89.3FM will have hosts Bonnie Mathias and Gene Lantz trying to raise the money to stay on the air while discussing labor's next big challenges. Call 972-647-1893
Nov 11, 7:30P: Fundraiser for the striking musicians at Arborlawn United Methodist Church, 5001 Briarhaven Rd Ft Worth. Dvorak’s 9th Symphony will be played
Nov 16: National Call-In Day against TPP.1-855-856-7545 Click Here to Download TPP Talking PointsNov 17, 7:30P: Central Labor Council meeting for all AFL-CIO affiliate membersNov. 18, 8:30A-Noon: Congressman Veasey Job Fair at Mountain View College. – Gymnasium located at 4849 W. Illinois Ave. DallasNov 30: National Lobby Day to Beat TPP. Contact Judy Bryant at 214-729-0063
--Gene Lantz, Press Secretary