By shoe leather, telephone, pen, e-mail and personal commitment, hundreds of UTU members scattered nationwide to work on behalf of Barack Obama this election season.
They knocked on doors, telephoned and e-mailed friends and strangers, and left informal notes on car windshields and taped to front doors.
The message was the same: Job security, better pay, improved benefits and a safer workplace depend on electing a labor-friendly President of the United States and electing more labor friendly members of Congress.
"The UTU is putting its money where its mouth is," said UTU International President Mike Futhey in August in creating special Obama campaign committees, calling on the UTU Auxiliary for assistance, enlisting state legislative directors and general chairpersons, and asking UTU staff in Cleveland to become involved in encouraging votes for Obama.
"We will mount the most extensive political campaign on behalf of labor-friendly candidates in the history of the UTU and its predecessor organizations," Futhey said. "We will build a model for future use by others in rail labor."
Leading the UTU Obama effort nationwide was a four-person team led by Illinois State Legislative Director Joe Szabo, a personal friend of Obamas and who has served a transportation policy adviser to the Obama presidential campaign.
Working with Szabo in mobilizing a nationwide get-out-the-vote-for-Obama campaign were Colorado State Legislative Director Rick Johnson, Idaho State Legislative Director George Millward, and Michigan State Legislative Director Jerry Gibson.
They focused primarily on the so-called battleground states, where neither Obama nor McCain had overwhelming support.
Enlisting assistance from general chairpersons, local officers and rank-and-file members, Szabo, Johnson, Millward and Gibson worked with the Obama campaign in various states to help register voters, educate them on the issues, obtain absentee ballots for them, and encourage them to go to the polls Election Day.
Futhey also enlisted the support of former UTU presidents Al Chesser and Tom DuBose, and retired state legislative directors Jack Shaver (Colorado), Carl Cochran (Florida), Larry Foster (Missouri) and Bill Thompson (Ohio) to reach out to UTU retirees on behalf of Obama. Their mission was to encourage UTU retirees to contact other retirees they know on behalf of Obama. UTU Alumni chapters also participated in the effort.
The UTU Auxiliary, led by its president, Carol Menges, similarly reached out to its members, encouraging them to help register friends and neighbors and urge them to vote for Obama.
At UTU headquarters in Cleveland, Futhey authorized a half-day off for employees to vote early, as permitted in Ohio, and to engage in visits with neighbors on behalf of Obama.
Assistant to the President Bruce Feltmeyer marked off on vacation to travel Ohio and ring doorbells on behalf of Obama.
There were many individual efforts among UTU members. In Missouri, State Legislative Director Ken Menges offered prizes to UTU members who registered at least five unregistered voters.
In North Dakota, State Legislative Director John Risch commissioned a voter poll to convince the media that Obama was a viable candidate in a state that traditionally votes Republican in presidential elections.
In Washington state, Local 426 and Local 855 officers Ed Carlson and Steve Mazulo parked their campers across from a BNSF yard where they posted Obama signs and engaged BNSF employees and passers-by in conversation, encouraging votes for Obama.
In Minnesota (SLD Phil Qualy), Nevada (SLD Jack Fetters and ALD Rod Nelms), and New Mexico (SLD Dennis Baca), there were coordinated efforts by these UTU leaders to knock on doors on behalf of Obama. Qualy also opened UTU offices for use by Obama staffers monitoring the Republican National Convention in St. Paul during the summer.
California ALD Mike Anderson brought UTU members from his state into the battleground state of Nevada to help register voters and encourage votes for Obama. Illinois ALD Bob Guy led a similar effort among UTU members, who traveled into neighboring Indiana.
The UTU presidents wife, April Futhey, did her part, volunteering as a team captain in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, to get-out-the-vote for Obama.
The Futhey home near Cleveland was used as temporary office space for Obama campaign workers and local Democratic politicians. April Futhey also recorded a telephone message for use in computerized calls to Ohio voters. "The Obama campaign here said they wanted my soft southern accent for those phone messages," she said.
I've heard about 'long lines' at some polling places...both in Washington, and other states, but at my polling place [A Lutheran church basement] it was a stroll! Everything went so smoothly...
Walk in, check off your name from a list, check your registration card, getcher ballot, vote, feed it into the machine, get your "I voted!" sticker... Dance out!
Voters wait for hours to cast ballots
November 04, 2008 10:07 PM EST
NEW YORK - Lines stretched down city blocks as people waited hours to cast ballots in the historic presidential race between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain. Some touch-screen machines briefly malfunctioned, but the country's election system seemed to run smoothly.
The biggest trouble was big crowds. But folks seemed to take it in stride. University students in Florida were prepared to wait hours after polls closed and massive lines remained.
"What's keeping me here? America needs a change, said 18-year-old Lauren Feronti at the University of Central Florida in Orlando." We need to get the right people in office."
In Maryland, Sen. Benjamin Cardin was heartened after visiting a polling precinct. "People are happy and smiling," he said. "People are very anxious to be voting. They really think they are part of history, and they are."
Early voting before Election Day, which drew record crowds in key battleground states, appeared to ease polling pressures on Tuesday. Despite long lines, polls in Ohio - which suffered delayed tallies in 2004 because of malfunctioning machines and huge crowds - closed without incident - or lawsuits.
In hotly contested Pennsylvania, polls also closed with no apparent problems. Earlier Tuesday, a judge dismissed a lawsuit from civil rights group the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People that sought to force Philadelphia County elections officials to count emergency paper ballots past closing time. Voting officials said they plan to count those ballots Friday.
Some New Jersey voters were forced to cast paper ballots because of troublesome touch-screen machines. Similar problems popped up elsewhere, but were more sporadic than widespread.
"The majority of them seem to be functioning OK, but there are trouble spots, not unexpected," said Purdue University computer science professor Eugene Spafford, who was watching machine voting issues for the Association of Computing Machinery. "The troubles largely stem from issues of volume, undertraining of personnel and, to some extent, inexperience or unanticipated problems."
In New York City, actor Tim Robbins, an ardent Obama supporter, experienced his own voting problems. Poll workers told him he was not a registered voter. After waiting hours, he was told to visit the election board office, which confirmed what he knew to be true: He's a registered voter. A judge then issued a court order allowing him to vote, and he did - at the same location where his trouble began.
In the West, Californians also faced long lines, but voting went smoothly. In Texas, voting before Election Day was credited with easing turnout. There were some hourlong waits and traffic was steady, but voting officials reported few problems. During that state's primary earlier this year, long lines stretched for hours and ballots ran out.
"It's amazing," said Jacque Callanen, elections administrator for Bexar County, home to San Antonio. "There's happy people out there."
Still, voting advocates had worried - tolerant voters or not - that the nation's myriad election systems might stagger later in the day, when people getting off work hit the polls.
"People have to wait for hours. Some people can do that. Some people can't. This is not the way to run a democracy," said Tova Wang of the government watchdog group Common Cause.
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Hmm. That address doesnt look right. It looks like the link pointing here was faulty.
Barack Obama is the first presidential candidate to promise in writing that he stands behind the objectives of the United Transportation Union.
We look forward to working closely with President Obama.
He is a leader who has put the well-being of working men and women at the heart of his campaign.
Early on, President-elect Obama pledged in writing to support for our rail and bus members, and we have every reason to believe he will fulfill that commitment.
In the weeks ahead, the UTU International leadership will be working with other AFL-CIO-member unions to identify qualified individuals for key appointments in the Obama administration.
As President-elect Obama has pledged to work on behalf of working men and women, the 125,000 active and retired UTU members and their families will continue their efforts in support of the Obama administration as it works to restore the dignity and hope that was relentlessly taken from us by mean-spirited, anti-labor conservatives.
Here is what Barack Obama, who has had a 100 percent UTU voting record in the Illinois senate and United States Senate, pledged to us in writing in a letter dated July 5:
"Our transportation system is integral to our economy and our nation, and we must ensure the people who run that system are protected by proper labor standards and receive the benefits they earn.
"Trains should be adequately staffed, and workers must be protected from fatigue through adequate rest time.
"My administration will preserve and promote policies that recognize the value of transportation workers. I will preserve the sanctity of Railroad Retirement and Federal Employers' Liability Act (FELA) and push for a fair process to receive and maintain a Commercial Drivers License.
"My administration will push for Amtrak, commuter rail, and public transit system funding, ensuring strong employment levels well into the future.
"I am proud to stand with UTU in our joint efforts to build an America that values the labor of every American and rewards it with a few basic guarantees -- wages that can raise a family, health care if we get sick, and a retirement that's dignified.
"On behalf of your members and their families, I am fighting to make sure that all Americans have access to quality healthcare, enjoy fair treatment at work, and that all children benefit from excellent educational opportunities.
"The brothers and sisters of UTU, and all working families, deserve a president who is committed to improving their lives. I will honor that commitment, as I have for over two decades in public life. Your efforts are a part of this movement, and I look forward to working with you, not just to win in November, but to deliver on the change working Americans deserve."
That is what Barack Obama pledged to us in writing.
What do we say in response to President-elect Obamas written pledge?
We say, "Let us move forward together to restore the dignity and economic security of working families, and to better ensure their safety and well-being in the workplace."
God bless President-elect Barack Obama and the United States of America.
