3rd District Youth Committee Renew their Commitment to the Political Process

Young workers in the 3rd District understand the importance of this election season and the generation-defining implications it will have. Because the RENEW Day of Action, held on October 15, 2016, was focused on political engagement, the RENEW Advisory Council suggested an educational element on the importance of engaging in the political process in preparation.
Over the summer, the IBEW Political/Legislative Department ran a webinar geared å_towards young IBEW members and grassroots political engagement entitled, “RENEWing Our Commitment to the Political Process.” Seeing as the information in the webinar was critically important in this political season and a great way to tie in our work with the IBEW 3DYC RENEW, we were able to present this workshop to a number of IBEW 3DYC RENEW chartered local unions. Young worker education and engagement in the political process is a great way to grow the IBEW and build new levels of activism necessary for the labor movement to continue to thrive through difficult times.
With the support of 3rd District International Vice President Siegel and the Business Managers of the 3rd District, the IBEW 3DYC RENEW was able to present this workshop around the District on an abbreviated schedule after the International Convention in St. Louis
IBEW 3DYC RENEW co-chairs å_Christopher Erikson Jr. from Local 3 and Jenn Schneider from Local 1249 ran the workshop which was a modified presentation from the Political/Legislative Department. Over 520 young IBEW members, staff and officers from 19 local unions participated in the workshop held on 10 nights: the Locals that participated were, Local 3 in New York City; Local 236 in Albany; Locals 43, 97 and 1249 in Syracuse; Locals 86 and 840 in Rochester; Locals 41 and 237 in Buffalo; Locals 10, 139 and 241 in Elmira; Locals 94 and 269 in Cranbury, NJ; Locals 164 and 102 in Paterson; Local 375 in Allentown; and Locals 1049 and 25 on Long Island.
The workshop focused on the importance of voting and grassroots political engagement while exploring a number of related topics: young worker issues like income inequality, unemployment and student loan debt; the role of millennials in the IBEW and political process; legislative attacks on voting such as cutbacks to early voting and same-day registration, partisan voter purges, photo ID requirements and gerrymandering; the effects of the 2010 midterm elections on working people; and a studyåÊ of working mens and womens economic issues that need to be the focus of this election: “right to work” (is wrong), prevailing wage and project labor agreements, paycheck protection (deception), the role of public sector union workers and the protection of collective bargaining rights.
In a frank and open setting, the workshop discussed the candidates for President of the United States and explored their individual positions on workers economic issues that affect us as IBEW members and affect our ability to provide a decent living for our families. The main takeaways were the clear ways how Hillary has supported unions and working people throughout her entire career and will continue to support unions, defend against attacks against collective bargaining rights and institute policies that will ensure working people can thrive in an economy that works for all.
The workshop also highlighted the ways in which Donald Trump, without ideas of his own, will follow the playbook of the anti-worker and anti-union Republican Party Platform to institute a national Right-to-Work law, repeal prevailing wage and get rid of project labor agreements and continue attacks on unionized public sector workers. Donald Trump openly supports Right-to-Work, has refused to recognize a union election at his hotel in Las Vegas, outsources his own products under the Trump brand and only builds union when he has to, according to an investigative report conducted and published by the IBEW’s Electrical Worker. A point of major importance is that you don’t only get Trump, but you also get his appointments to positions on the Supreme Court, the National Labor Relations Board and the Department of Labor, among others.
The grassroots political workshop studied the IBEW and AFL-CIO’s political engagement structures and the role of the local union registrar. These relationships ‰ÛÓ with the Local Union Registrar and the local Area Labor Federation and Central Labor Council ‰ÛÓ are a great opportunity for 3DYC RENEW committees to focus their political grassroots efforts, even past this election season. Such actions include: voter registration, election day GOTV, worksite leafletting, member education on candidates and issues, phone banks and meeting with representatives on our issues. The workshops concluded with a focus on local Congressional, Local and statehouse races in the particular local union’s area. A number of local candidates participated in the workshops as well, including two running for Congress.
The overall goals of the RENEW grassroots political engagement workshop were to educate our younger members on the importance of voting, on the issues affecting young people and working people at stake in this election, on the two presidential candidates’ different positions on those issues and how to get our 3DYC RENEW committees involved in politics and local union efforts. Getting the message to them was important but what was also stressed was how important it is to spread that message on the job, in our homes and with our friends as well. An educated, engaged and active local union membership strengthens the IBEW and our potential to elect people who will support us as positive momentum with our generation pushes the labor movement to go on the offensive for the first time in a generation.