Labor Builds a Majority in Delegation

The Democratic Party may be changing, but the makeup of the Ventura County delegation shows that labor still rules.

Of the nine local delegates and alternates chosen to attend the Los Angeles convention, five have heavy union ties and are outgunning other traditional party constituencies such as pro-choicers and environmentalists.

Hank Lacayo, county Democratic Party chief, insists there is “no great organized labor conspiracy” but said labor has been taking a higher profile in elections over the past few years.

Labor delegates say their national leaders have sent messages through the ranks to increase their visibility because Al Gore is considered one of the most pro-union candidates in years.

The delegates will be promoting local as well as national labor issues ranging from collective bargaining for firefighters to universal health care.

“All AFL-CIO unions are encouraging union people to run as delegates,” said Leo Valenzuela, business manager of Laborers’ International Union Local 585 in Oxnard. “The goal is to have organized labor more visible on the platform. We want to be heard.”

Valenzuela said President Clinton has not been as vocally pro-union as Gore.

“Gore has visited more union halls than any other vice president,” he said. “He consistently supports organized labor.”

Valenzuela is a convention delegate along with his wife Marilyn, who is executive secretary of the Tri-Counties Central Labor Council.

Lacayo of Newbury Park has been involved in the labor movement for decades, once serving as political director of the United Auto Workers.

“There has always been a push by labor to get delegates elected,” he said. “The national unions over the years have tried to get more involved in the community.”

But times have changed, Lacayo said.

During the 1960s and early 1970s, when George Meaney ran the AFL-CIO, the attitude was not to get officially involved but leave it up to individuals, he said.

“Now the push for representation is coming from the top to the bottom,” Lacayo said.

Denise Mitchell, spokeswoman for the AFL-CIO, said there are 1,500 union delegates at the convention this year out of a total of 5,000.

“There are a little bit more this time and significantly more than we had in the past,” she said. “We’ve had a much bigger grass-roots campaign.”

She said delegates have been told to circulate and mobilize people around “working family issues” such as school modernization, a patients’ bill of rights, prescription drugs, equal pay for women and protection of Social Security.

“It’s not about Republicans and Democrats but the fact is that Democrats side more with working men and women,” she said.

Bill Gallaher, who spent 14 years as president of the Oxnard Firefighters Assn., is now a delegate to the convention.

In 1996, he said, there were 22 firefighter delegates at the Democratic convention and this year there are 32.

Gallaher said his union is hoping to help pass legislation giving collective bargaining rights to firefighters who lack them.

Alternate delegate Larry Miller of Camarillo is a well-known county labor activist. The Moorpark College biology professor served seven years as chief labor negotiator for the California Federation of Teachers and was president for four years.

Congressman and delegate Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) said labor has traditionally played a major role in Democratic Party politics.

“There is a general feeling that labor is not satisfied with policies on trade,” said Sherman, noting labor opposition to the China trade deal and other global trade pacts such as NAFTA.

“Instead of focusing on electing Democrats, they are saying, ‘How do we make the people we elect vote for what we want them to vote for.’ There has been some discussion of getting union people into key positions in the Democratic Party,” Sherman said.

Republicans decry labor’s strong representation at the upcoming convention.

“It’s not surprising since the Democrats are the party of special interests and labor bosses,” said Stuart DeVeaux, spokesman for the California State Republican Party. He objected to Democrats who say they represent working people, and he contended the party has a “quota” system of special interests it caters to.

“Working people is an expansive word that the Democrats are sloppily throwing around,” he said. “What about the people who aren’t in unions?”

The Democrats fired back.

“Our delegates are average Californians who work for a living, some take public transportation, about half are minorities and 30% have affiliation with labor unions,” said Bob Mulholland, campaign advisor for the California State Democratic Party.

“The Republicans at the convention were about 89% white and many are anti-union. They tend to think the minimum wage is too high; we think it’s too low.”