*This Election Shows Labor's Ground Game Matters (Especially During a Pandemic)* Meredith Schafer and Martí Garza, Labor Notes, Nov. 10 https://labornotes.org/2020/11/viewpoint-election-shows-labors-ground-game-matters-especially-during-pandemic
"Despite record turnout, the razor-thin margins that ousted Trump in the recent election sharply illustrate the important role of field work—in-person conversations and timely personal follow-up by trained canvassers—particularly when expanding the electorate with Black and Latino working class voters." . . . "UNITE HERE brought the discipline, ambition, and methodology of its stellar workplace organizing to the election canvass operation. The union sent 1,700 canvassers—many of them Black and Latino union members whose jobs and families were hit hard by COVID-19—to knock doors in Nevada, Arizona, Florida, and Pennsylvania. "Despite being smaller than many other unions, and with many members out of work and staff laid off, this was the largest canvassing operation in these states of any union during the election. The union developed a contactless canvassing model with the guidance of epidemiologists that included intensive training, personal protective equipment, and safety protocols. This operation proved that door-to-door canvassing can be done effectively and safely during a pandemic—and, more importantly, that it must be done!" . . . "The Biden campaign chose not to mobilize a traditional field campaign of in-person canvassing, even in critical swing states where the grassroots infrastructure is tenuous despite some shifts over several election cycles. This was a mistake." . . . *Why Did California's Tax the Rich Measure Lose?* Fred Glass, Labor Notes, Nov. 12 https://labornotes.org/blogs/2020/11/why-did-californias-tax-rich-measure-lose "California’s Proposition 15, a labor-backed progressive tax measure, gave up the ghost on November 10 after a weeklong vote count. The measure had proposed to close a corporate tax loophole worth $10 to $12 billion a year for schools and services. "The narrow (51.8-48.2) loss is somewhat surprising, given progressive tax victories in the Golden State in 2012 and 2016, and the success of similar “tax the rich” measures on November 3 next door in Arizona (Proposition 208, on school funding) and Oregon (universal preschool). What went wrong?" . . . "Another problem was the role of the California NAACP. Usually a reliable partner in progressive ballot coalitions, the organization sided with the “No” forces. It is led by Alice Huffman, a former union staffer and state Democratic Party leader who has parlayed these credentials into a lucrative political consulting career. Over the years, this has devolved into a pay-to-play operation. Campaign finance filings show her firm accepted $740,000 in No on 15 contributions. The Huffman-led NAACP’s endorsement was useful in the massive direct mail operation that sent deceptive No on 15 literature streaming into African American households." . . . *It Took a Boatload of Uber Cash to Beat Self-Organized Drivers* Brian Dolber, Labor Notes, Nov. 19 https://labornotes.org/blogs/2020/11/it-took-boatload-uber-cash-beat-self-organized-drivers "Workers suffered a devastating defeat in California’s Proposition 22, the most expensive ballot measure in U.S. history. “Gig economy” giants Uber, Lyft, Instacart, and DoorDash spent $200 million to pass the measure, which exempts them from basic labor laws." . . . "Prop 22 codifies the misclassification of rideshare and delivery drivers as independent contractors, not employees—overriding recent California court rulings and legislation." . . . "To make matters worse, the new law defines what it would take to overturn it: a seven-eighths supermajority in both houses of the state legislature." . . . -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#4223): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/4223 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/78773018/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
