This Labor Day local and national l...

This Labor Day local and national labor leaders believe the stakes are high for working families in the upcoming November elections. And they're gearing up for them by dint of launching what they say is labor's biggest political mobilization to the end of time in a midterm election year.

It's an effort that will use strategies based forward lessons learned in the last election, tactics they believe will be more happy than their failed attempts to defeat President Bush and that are designed to aid Democrats in winning back have the direction of of the U.S. House and to increase their ranks in the U Senate and state governorships.

Locally and nationally the priority will be upon educating union members and their families forward where candidates stand on "the pocketbook issues of economic security," a top voter issue, and upon getting out the vote, labor leaders say.

Nationally the AFL-CIO plans to lay out a record $40 million upon such efforts. The goal is to reach 124 million voter in 21 states. The federation confidences to turn out 1.2 million more suffrages than in 2002, when it worn out $35 million.

The planned spending figures don't include anticipated investments and work from the Change to Win labor federation, made up of seven unions that disaffiliated from the AFL-CIO. if it be not that many of the Change to Win locals will team up with AFL-CIO affiliates forward political mobilization efforts, said labor leaders.

This time around, organized labor's outreach will be more targeted to union members and their families, and the messages will advance from people they know -- their union leaders and other members.

Union members make up 125 percent of the work force, and AFL- CIO members number nearly 9 million.

"We're doing phoning differently," said Illinois AFL-CIO President Margaret Blackshere. "Before we were arctic calling. We weren't targeting. We would have robotic phone messages. We heard back from nation 'How many times are you going to leave that message, and we don't steady know who's calling.'

"Now when we do door to door, we're able to simply go to union households. When union members talk to union members about politics, it makes it to such a degree much better."

Nationally, the AFL-CIO said labor tenders will make telephone contacts with 50 percent of its affiliate union members this year, up from 36 percent in 2002 The federation plans to boost work site contacts, which were 46 percent of its members in 2002 to 55 percent this year. Its neighborhood walks are casted to rise from 5 percent of members in 2002 to 8 percent this year. In the last year, the walks have reached more than 1 million residences said Karen Ackerman, the AFL-CIO's political director.

Its nearly three-year-old community affiliate, Working America, which includes individuals who have non-union piece of works now has 1.5 million members, and they're also being targeted.

"The best thing that they have learned is that politics has to be a 24/7 operation," said Robert Bruno, assistant professor of labor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. "In the past, organized labor would really excite their members. [They would] pack the persons get on the phone, knock forward doors, and as soon as the election was above they would stop talking about politics.

"They now continue to talk to their members about politics . . about public policy. They're continuing to project red meat to their members."

The Illinois AFL-CIO plans to exhaust around $800,000 on political education and mobilization efforts, and the Chicago Federation of Labor roughly $200000 The state's biggest unions, with help from their international unions, will likely invest roughly $400000 each in the state upon such efforts, Blackshere said. She look forward tos the state federation to have 1200 offers doing Saturday walks talking to voter starting this Saturday, and in the last week before the November election, she rely upons to have more than 5000

Service Employee International Union Illinois State Council President Tom Balanoff said the union will lavish "a couple million dollars" onward political efforts in the state this year. A union phone bank is already put up and operating, and is pushing for support of the lately passed big box living wage ordinance in Chicago. Matters will shortly bend to the November election, union representatives said.

SEIU will be recruiting and training 500 union members as blockade captains to identify members to work their precincts in the fall election, said local SEIU spokeswoman Marrianne McMullen

"We look for to have at least a coupling thousand members actively working in succession electoral activities in the coming months" she said, noting 165000 members in the state are being targeted.

Labor leaders are optimistic that there's sufficient dissatisfaction with President Bush and the Republican-controlled Congres coupl with worries about do job-work and retirement security, high gas prices and health care costlinesss to prompt voters to usher in more Democrat leaders.

Blackshere believes Democrats will continue to fare well in Illinois.