Kucinich gets ILWU endorsement

[genius]

Subj: Rocking the Boat!
Date: 11/6/2003 20:47:22 Pacific Standard Time
From: [e-mail]

Sent from the Internet (Details)

ROCKING THE BOAT
On Tuesday, Nov. 4, Dennis Kucinich rocked the Rock the Vote forum for young voters in Boston, Mass. "If you want to rock the vote, you have to rock the boat!" he told them, urging them to challenge the status quo. A crowd of Kucinich supporters welcomed Dennis to a party nearby after the event.

UNION BACKING
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 23 in Tacoma, Wa., has endorsed by popular vote the candidacy of Dennis J. Kucinich for president. Representatives of Local 23 will present Kucinich with the formal endorsement this Saturday. Vance Lelli, a member of ILWU, President of Pierce County Central Labor Council, and Vice President of Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO, said: "This is the first step toward having the ILWU international endorse Kucinich. His principles are right in line with those of the ILWU. He is the only candidate working for repeal of the Taft Hartley Act. We were locked out last year. The Taft Hartley Act handcuffs workers, and Dennis Kucinich is the only candidate from a major party to say so." http://kucinich.us/labor.php

LATINOS FOR KUCINICH
Latinos are organizing for Kucinich and have created a new website in Spanish at http://www.kucinich.us/latino

A BOOST FROM FORMER DEAN SUPPORTERS
Only months after he pledged to remain in the public finance system, Dr. Dean is asking his supporters to vote on whether he should opt out of the system, which was created in response to Watergate and the corruption of the political system by corporate money. Our campaign intends to move quickly to reach out to those disaffected Dean backers who supported him because they thought he represented a fresh new approach and believed his promise to use public financing.

The Kucinich campaign has created a new section on its website called "The Dr. is Out." Former Dean supporters have begun making the switch and adding their comments to the site. http://kucinich.us/doctorisout.php

Read what they're saying, and forward the link to other Dean supporters and those who care about campaign finance reform.

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[La_Serpiente]

1. Wow

Isn't that a pretty big union? I mean...there are tons of ILWU people here where I live.

[ferg]

2. it's just local 23 that endorsed Kucinich

Not the whole union.

[DemBones DemBones]

3. Yes, it's a very large union. This endorsement is from a

local but the union person announcing it said it was the first step in getting the endorsement of international ILWU. Dennis is a strong supporter of unions, as is Dick Gephardt, both of them having union member fathers. John Edwards's father and mother were union members so I imagine his record on unions is strong, too.

[JohnKleeb]

4. baby steps as they call em

good endorsement. In fact he was with longshoremen when I first heard about him trying to repeal Taft-Hartley thus my interest went up.

[no name no slogan]

9. Dennis is also a union member-- the only one in this race, I believe

I don't remember the exact name, but it's the camera operators and behind-the-scenes people in television and movies that it represents.

He carries his card with him, and often pulls it out when speaking on labor issues. Most people don't realize that he's a card-carrying union man, not even many of his supporters.

Which is a shame, really, because it gives him that much more creedence when speaking on issues of workers and trade.

GO DENNIS GO!!!

[pnorman]

6. ILWU isn't a very large union in numbers,

but it commands great respect in the rest of Labor Movement. Here in Seattle, ILWU also plays a large role in Jobs with Justice, and I believe they do the same in all the other port cities on the west coast. Jobs with Justice is how the relatively small Labor Movement in the country "connects" with the general community. Here's the web-page of the WA State JwJ: http://www.wsjwj.org/home/home_default.asp

I had attended that Honorees Dinner last month, and that dining room contained the heart and soul of progressive activists in this area. Jobs with Justice was largely responsible for offsetting the manifest ANIMUS against ILWU in last year's LOCKOUT by PMA, by Bush's Dep't of Labor and much of the media. I didn't know that Vance Lelli was also VP of the WA State Labor Council, but he was there too. Vance, with his POWERFUL voice for labor songs and his guitar, is visible at many activist events in the area.

That's not a "big number" endorsement for Dennis, but it's a very significant one.

[JohnKleeb]

7. Every bit helps

I love all unions really but naturally I have the ones I am close to, for me its the miners, I think for Dennis it could be the steelworkers or maybe the teamsters. BTW I remember reading about the dockworkers struggle last year, I also remember reading about him speaking about Taft-Hartley to them this June about how he wanted to repeal it.

[blm]

10. But it helps. Unions are very much divided.

They have endorsed Gephardt, Kerry, Kucinich and Dean.

[MrSoundAndVision]

11. And they deserve that respect...

because they represent the fight between the corporations and the workers in this country. What they did took some guts last year, and they deserve to be commended on their bold efforts to stand up to the money machine.

Anybody see that picture of the protester that got shot in the face by a rubber bullet at the union strike? It was horrible, I'll look for it.

[Tinoire]

5. He'll get California without a doubt!

You can bank on that! Great!

[Padraig18]

12. I'll take that bet.

$25 @ 20:1 odds?

[redqueen]

8. WOOHOO!

"The Taft Hartley Act handcuffs workers, and Dennis Kucinich is the only candidate from a major party to say so." http://kucinich.us/labor.php

*dancin*

[JohnKleeb]

16. Thats what got me reallly liking him and he was out in CA and with

longshoremen when he said it. Thank you Dennis so much, unions :toast:

[CMT]

13. good news for DK

thanks for posting.

[Desertrose]

14. Alrighteeee, Dennis!!!

Way to GO!!!!

In another thread someone posted that Dennis' campaign is deeper than Deans' is wide...I thought that was pretty cool.....

The ILWU is one more group that will reach out ...like the pepple in the pond...the ripples spread out and move below the surface...even though we can't see them they are still moving and "affecting".....

Peace
DR

[The Sushi Bandit]

15. This is BIG!!!

Longshoremen Union is on of of the most RESPECTED unions on the west coast. Dont be suprised if the Teamsters or the Steelworkers follow suit.