Labor Hits Field And Phones Across Region For Pro-Worker Candidates

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

The first glimmers of dawn were barely beginning to appear as union volunteers headed out Tuesday morning in Prince Georges County. After grabbing donuts and coffee at the IBEW 26 union hall in Lanham, newbies Gene Berrill and Anthony Pierce (top right) collected their Labor-to-Labor packets and headed out into the chilly morning. For Berrill and Pierce, mechanics who are members of Elevator Constructors Local 10, this was their first labor get-out-the-vote effort. "We're both out of work, so we wanted to help out," said Berrill as he walked up a union member's driveway in Clinton, Maryland. "Times are tough, so solidarity is more important than ever." Across the river in Virginia later in the morning, Cecelie Counts, Anne Knipper (left) and Charity Wilson hit the doors in Vienna for Congressman Gerry Connolly. Counts and Knipper work at AFL-CIO headquarters while Wilson works at AFGE headquarters. "I've already voted," Ms. Bellamy, a Vienna resident and union member, proudly told Counts, who checked her off the list. Out in Centreville, a gold-shirted UFCW Local 400 team rolled through neighborhoods splashed with bright autumn colors. Field Coordinator Neil Jacobs was accompanied by reps Tom Rogers and Mike Hammett (right), all three longtime volunteers. "We've been out many times," Rogers laughed as he and Hammett headed up a driveway. "We're from UFCW Local 400, and we want to let you know that labor has endorsed Congressman Gerry Connolly because of his 95% voting record for union families," he told resident Kyong Kim (right). "We're just making sure everyone gets out to vote today." After Kim promised that both she and her husband -- both union members -- would be sure to vote when he got home from work, Rogers and Hammett headed back to the car, where Jacobs waited, ready to head to the next union household. Back at the NOVA office in Virginia and the IBEW 26 union hall in Prince George's County, volunteers hit the phones while teams continued to head out to the field for the afternoon shift. Dozens of union volunteers made tens of thousands of targeted phone calls from the AFL-CIO headquarters in downtown DC (left). As darkness fell and Election Day 2010 drew to a close, dozens of members of UFCW Local 1994 MCGEO and the Montgomery County Firefighters wrapped up a long day of campaigning for Question A. At the Strathmore Elementary School in Silver Spring, Local 1994 member Frank Beckham (l, in photo at right), a mechanic at the Brookville Maintenance Facility, explained to a confused – and appreciative -- voter that the ambulance fee law wouldn’t cost him a penny while protecting critical public services. Watch Union City and the AFL-CIO’s blog http://blog.aflcio.org/ for post-election coverage. - report/photos (top, middle, bottom right) by Chris Garlock, photo (bottom left) by Adam Wright