AFL-CIO Launches ‘Take Back Ohio’ Campaign

LORDSTOWN, Ohio — Union members, leaders and activists held a rally at the Local 1112 UAW union hall last night to kick-off organized labor’s efforts to elect “worker-friendly candidates” in the 2018 elections.

The rally was closed to the press. A news release reporting the event was distributed to reporters this morning by the Ohio AFL-CIO.

“This rally represents the start of something big here in the Mahoning Valley,” said Mahoning-Trumbull AFL-CIO President Bill Padisak. “Our membership is energized and ready to engage in the campaign to re-elect Sherrod Brown, make Richard Cordray our next governor, and elect candidates up and down the ticket that support working people.”

Labor’s campaign — dubbed “Take Back Ohio” — will involve thousands of volunteers across the state and is designed to reach every union member in Ohio, along with non-union middle class voters, according to the Ohio AFL-CIO. The campaign will include neighborhood canvasses, phone banks and worksite leaflets.

“The stakes could not be higher,” said Ohio AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Petee Talley of the 2018 elections. “After years of seeing the system rigged against us, working people are engaging in this campaign because we know that our freedom to negotiate is on the line.”



The Ohio AFL-CIO is comprised of 600,000 union men and women who are affiliated through 41 international unions and 1,500 local unions. The Lordstown event was the first of six rkick-off events scheduled this month in Marietta, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus and Toledo.

Among those speaking at last night’s rally was the Democratic Party’s candidate for lieutenant governor, Betty Sutton.

“Rich Cordray and I have always stood on the side of working people and organized labor, and we will continue to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with you as the next governor and lieutenant governor of Ohio,” she said. “We need leaders in Columbus who will stand up and fight back against those powerful interests on behalf of working Ohioans who have been left behind.”

Also speaking was state Sen. Joe Schiavoni, who was defeated by Cordray in his bid to win the party’s gubernatorial nomination.

“It’s time we take back our state,” Schiavoni said. “Rich and Betty have always fought for workers’ rights and working families and actions speak louder than words.”



Pictured at top: Betty Sutton addresses the crowd at Monday night’s rally.

SOURCE: Ohio AFL-CIO

Copyright 2020 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.