Election 2008 – Organizing for Change

Will John McCain’s campaign close up shop in Pennsylvania just like they did in Michigan? Currently, there are only 10 McCain offices as compared to 62 Obama offices in Pennsylvania.

Many speculated that McCain would now turn his focus to Pennsylvania. But United Steelworkers International president Leo Gerard tells the Huffington Post that the state could soon go the way of Michigan.

“We’re seeing — from the several hundred of our people working every day, hand-billing at the plants — the last two weeks have really been breaking Senator Obama’s way,” Gerard said over the phone from his office in Pittsburgh. “In particular, I think folks are sort of not taking John McCain as serious as they were, when they see his vacillation last week. ‘I’m not going to debate. I’m going to whip House Republicans into shape. Not.”

Gerard also said that the bailout bill is hurting McCain disproportionately. “There’s lot of anger at this bailout bill, even though people recognize we have to do something. But our people think it’s directly tied to Bush, and they tie bush to McCain. That’s the sense of what I’ve heard back from our people, that the race is breaking out.”

Seems like the United Steelworkers International is ready to kick out McCain. Too many workers in Pennsylvania have seen their good paying jobs sent overseas because of tax breaks given to Corporations for offshoring these jobs. John McCain believes that we need to continue with these current tax breaks. This isn’t good for America. This isn’t economic patriotism. Handing over American jobs to workers in other countries is economic treason.

Good for the Unions. When I was younger, there were commercials on TV that had a little jingle that went like this, “Look for the Union Label”. This was in reference to clothing. I remember in the 1970’s, Republicans and Democrats were shouting “Buy American”.

This article can be read in its entirety at Huffington Post along with a video of Barack Obama’s appearance in Abington PA. (thanks to Bruce at the BruceBlog for pointing out this article to me)

Like Ohio, Pennsylvania was once an industrial state and one of the top industries was the garment industry. Not anymore. Now our clothes are made in sweat shops in South Pacific Islands.

These workers are the fundamentals of our economy and the fundamentals are only strong when our workers have jobs that pay a living wage.