Eye on 2008
CLC Out to Build Political Activism

By GINGER ADAMS OTIS

The AFL-CIO New York City Central Labor Council, looking to strengthen and expand its political muscle, will kick off a year-long series of seminars Feb. 9 meant to enhance labor's effect on local, state and national elections.

PLANTING AT THE GRASS ROOTS: Ed Ott, the executive director of the AFL-CIO New York City Central Labor Council, said its workshops over the coming year will 'give people the skills and confidence [so that] they'll see there's no magic to the political process.'

Over the course of 20 workshops, participants will learn how to lobby effectively for legislation, mount and maintain grassroots election campaigns, coordinate marches, phone banks and leafleting networks, and produce targeted mass mailings to communities and within unions.

Get Running Start

CLC Executive Director Ed Ott said 2007 was the perfect year to give workers a running start on next year's state and national elections because of its relatively light political activity.

He created the series of soup-to-nuts seminars as a way to empower workers and engage them in the political process "so they have a voice not just at the workplace but also in shaping policy that helps working people."

Mr. Ott said the CLC "really believes that if you give people the skills and the confidence, they'll see there's no magic to the political process, and they don't need to go out and hire a highly-paid consultant. They can do it."

The opening workshop will be run by Karen Ackerman, the AFL-CIO's Political Director and a member of the National Committee on Political Education, who will start the day with an overview of her organization's long-term goals.

She'll also talk about how the new Congress can be expected to affect the organization's legislative agenda, and how it's likely to respond to many of labor's biggest issues.

"Karen's really going to set the tone for the day. We'll be talking about worker-to-worker communications and we're going to use an issue relevant to our members - the Wal-Martization of the workplace," said Mr. Ott. "We'll focus on how to map the workplace, develop internal communication, how to engage your brothers and sisters on the job."

Just like another CLC initiative developed by Mr. Ott - a series of workplace safety seminars - these training programs are meant to be attended by one or two representatives from the majority of the group's more-than 400 member locals.

Gearing Up for '08

Those representatives are then charged with bringing their newfound knowledge to the rank-and-file and setting up a series of similar workshops within their own locals. At the close of 2007, the CLC hopes to have thousands of workers in the New York area primed to take on political campaigns, legislative campaigns and election campaigns.

"We're going to break it down for them: Political campaign on the national level, this is how you do it, a legislative campaign on the state level, this is how you do it, an election in the city, this is how you mount your campaign," said Mr. Ott enthusiastically. "Next year is a big year, we're looking at Presidential elections, and the CLC is also looking ahead locally to 2009."

Other union leaders who will be participating in the seminars include Jessica Weinstein, an organizer with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees in Washington, D.C.; Susan Ballantyne, the political coordinator of the State AFL-CIO; Sandy Felder from the national AFL-CIO, and Jane Thompson from the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union.

Early Returns Good

The early response to the program has been heartening - already representatives from more than 50 CLC unions have signed up, and Mr. Ott anticipated greater participation as word spread.

Beyond increasing the sphere of influence the labor movement has politically, he said, the CLC was also trying to ensure its future by training new members. If unions don't create pathways to hand down information from generation to generation, he noted, the CLC will eventually go the way of the dinosaur.

"But we're planning for ways to avoid that," Mr. Ott said cheerily. "Continuity is the key. You have to train, train, train."

Union leaders who wish to attend the seminars should call the CLC at 212-604-9552.