Workers Vote For A New Economic Agenda

Young Workers Overwhelmingly Reject Republican Approach To The Economy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 6, 2008

CONTACT: Greg Denier
Noreen Nielsen
202-721-0660

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- America's workers had clear alternatives on economic policy on November 4, and gave a mandate to a progressive agenda for bottom-up, worker-driven economic growth, according to a post-election analysis released during a news conference today by Change to Win.

"Anxiety over the economy framed this election -- but it was hope and optimism for the future that determined the votes of workers," said Change to Win chair Anna Burger. "We won the election, now we will change the country."

Young workers in overwhelming numbers rejected the traditional Reagan-era Republican economic nostrums of unregulated corporate power, tax cuts for the wealthy and slashing of government programs in their decisive support for president-elect Barack Obama.

"Young workers envision a new American Dream based on respect for their work, living wages, a health care system focused on healthy lives rather than corporate profits, and a green and energy independent economy," continued Burger.

Lake Research Partners president Celinda Lake said results from her election survey of working voters signal the death of Reaganomics, and the beginning a new era of voter support for positive government to promote the American Dream.

"There has been a complete change in how people view the role of government," said Lake. "The majority of workers no longer believe that government is the problem, they believe it must be part of the solution, marking the end of the Reagan era."

Workers who were active in the election echoed the sentiments found in the polling data. Keith McCorkle, as 27-year Teamsters member from Greensboro, N.C., knocked on doors, visited worksites and helped get out the vote because working people need a government that works for them.

"I've been waiting for decades for some of that money they have at the top to trickle down to me, but I haven't gotten a drop," said McCorkle. "We want a different government, one that works for workers again."

Samantha Miskevich, a 22-year old Fish Department manager at an Acme Supermarket in Limerick, Penn., and member of UFCW Local Union 1776, stressed how this was an especially monumental election for young voters.

"This is our time. For me and my peers, this election was our 1960s moment, our moment to vote for change. I've never worked so hard or talked to so many people. This election was about saving the middle class," said Miskevich.

Economic Policy Institute president Larry Mishel presented an economic analysis showing that workers wages are a critical component of the economy and that in order to stimulate economic growth we must bring balance into the workplace. Over the course of the Bush administration, real family income has fallen. And for young workers the situation is even direr, with real wages for young workers having dropped by two dollars an hour over the past few decades. Our government must implement policies that increase workers' wages.

Tom Woodruff, director of the Change to Win Strategic Organizing Center, stressed the need for action now. "We must pass the Employee Free Choice Act. As the percentage of workers in unions has declined so have wages and benefits. Corporations and CEOs have used their tremendous power to threaten, coerce, intimidate and fire workers for trying to form a union. It is a fact that workers in unions earn on average almost a third more and are almost two-thirds more likely to have health and retirement benefits. Unions are an economic recovery program," said Woodruff.

Change to Win unions played a vital role in helping elect president-elect Barack Obama and pro-worker candidates in state and local races across the country. Following the Change to Win endorsement of Obama in February, Change to Win union members dedicated thousands of volunteer hours, knocked on millions of doors, made millions of phone calls, and visited worksites throughout the nation engaging and mobilizing millions of working families to vote on November 4.

"From breakrooms to living rooms, from door knocking to hand-billing, from phone calls to rallies, Change to Win union members mobilized the workers of America to bring about change," said Edgar Romney, Change to Win secretary-treasurer and UNITE HERE international vice-president. "We have never had more enthusiasm, more workers willing to help, or been more fired up than in this election. This was not simply an election campaign or a standard political operation -- it was a movement."

** Note: Media representatives interested in scheduling an interview with Change to Win leaders to discuss the post-election analysis should contact Noreen Nielsen at Noreen.nielsen@changetowin.org. For more information on the American Dream Survey Series, visit: www.changetowin.org/americandream.**