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Special Election IL05 Tue Feb 10 2009
Talkin' Union
How have labor endorsements worked out in the Fifth Congressional District? Comme ca:
Rep. John Fritchey: AFSCME Council 31, Illinois Federation of Teachers, Operating Engineers 150, Teamsters Local 714 and Joint Council 25, and the Illinois AFL-CIO.
Rep. Sara Feigenholtz: SEIU's Illinois State Council. I couldn't find any others, but that doesn't mean there aren't more. SEIU Illinois has enormous membership and claims about half the union members in the Fifth District.
UPDATE: UNITE-HERE's Joint Board endorsed Rep. Feigenholtz today.
Tom Geoghegan: The National Nurses Organizing Committee (you'll note on their website they are not particularly friendly with SEIU).
UPDATE: Geoghegan received the endorsement of Teamster Local 743 today, Wednesday.
Geoghegan has a long, storied history of working with nurses in organizing drives, something he wrote about brilliantly and compellingly in his book Which Side Are You On?
Union endorsements are very variable things. An endorsement by a big union could be wildly important or meaningless -- it really depends on just how hard local leadership feels they need to work in a particular race. The money is always nice, but if leadership can't mobilize its membership, the vaunted "boots on the ground" (die, cliche!) will never materialize.
HCL773 / February 11, 2009 3:19 PM
UNITE HERE's Chicago & Midwest Joint Board formally endorsed Sara today as well. . . .