WSLC’s Jeff Johnson on election: ‘We’re just getting started’

(Nov. 6, 2018) — As election results from around Washington state were released on Tuesday night (see the latest results here), Jeff Johnson, President of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO, released the following statement:

“Union members and their families have been pumped up this entire election cycle. For months, the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO and our affiliated unions have organized member volunteers to talk to fellow union members about the importance of this election. Working together, our Labor Neighbor grassroots political mobilization program activated more than 1,000 union members who knocked on doors, made phone calls, and wrote handwritten postcards to more than 45,000 union members and their families. By all accounts, the feedback has been that folks were absolutely determined this year to elect people who share our values and care about good jobs. I think tonight’s results reflect that.

“At a time when some politicians and judges are attacking our freedom to join together in unions, it’s more important than ever to get engaged, to vote, and then to hold elected officials accountable. That’s exactly what we intend to do. We will take the energy and momentum from this year’s successful election mobilization and use it to continue building our long-term grassroots movement. Union members know that when they join together, they have the power to change things for the better.

“Tonight we celebrate the end of a long election season and the gains made by pro-worker candidates. But we are just getting started.”