Portside

On Tuesday, Ohio voters overwhelmingly rejected Issue 1, a measure put forth by extremist Republicans in the state Legislature to make it harder for citizen-driven initiatives to amend the Ohio Constitution.

The Plain Dealer, Cleveland’s major newspaper, called the Ohio AFL-CIO labor campaign “the backbone of the ‘No on Issue 1’ campaign” and with good reason. The state federation, along with central labor councils across the state, worked with affiliates and allies to execute a comprehensive voter outreach campaign in a very short period of time. Through canvasses, mailings, phone banks, worksite actions, postcard writing and more, labor activists and volunteers provided much of the muscle for the campaign and, in the end, it showed.

“We are grateful for the union members and activists who over the last nine months exposed the hypocrisy and dishonesty of the proponents and their fraudulent issue, and turned-out working people in massive numbers to protect the principle of one-person, one-vote,” said Ohio AFL-CIO President Tim Burga (USW) after the issue was defeated.