(Continued from previous page)
“She’s been the strongest advocate for the mayor’s extreme position, the best spokeswoman for his bumper sticker mentality,” Murphy said.
Madtes realizes the ramifications of the win are “a big deal” for labor and he says that the victory is a result of hard work for several weeks by people who were concentrated on the campaign. “The biggest contribution was the one-on-one conversations you had with your membership that lived in the district. Nothing can ever replace this. I’m proud of all the hard work we put into this campaign,” Madtes told members in an email circulated over the weekend.
“As the president of the South Florida Central Labor Council, this was the greatest showing of solidarity I have seen in my 4 years as president. I truly believe the South Florida labor movement has earned new respect in our community,” he added
“Usually incumbents don’t lose,” Madtes told Ladra. “Nobody’s run a campaign like this with organized labor, in, well I can’t remember when. It feel
s good that we were able to work in harmony and get it done.”
The local International Association of Firefighters union that covers Miami-Dade’s firefighters and paramedics was also super active from the beginning. You could always find two of them during early voting at the Coral Reef Library. And on election day, there were more than 100 firefighters spread out through the district.
“This even brought out retirees,” said union president Al Cruz. “The retirees and active firefighters were working side by side.”
Cruz told Ladra that he and PBA President John Rivera had discussed early on about getting behind one single candidate for the election. “We knew that was the only way we were going to be able to do this with our resources,” he said.
So, it’s a strategy we might see again? “Absolutely,” Cruz said. “We showed what we can do.
“It took a lot of work but our department has gotten a new sense of worth. They feel they can make a difference and so they’re more motivated.”
“This is huge,” Matdes said, referring specifically to how the win illustrates what the county labor unions can do when they band together — like a coalition, which is the word Levine used in her victory speech.
“What it means is that when we work together, organized labor, we can make a difference, and put a candidate in office who will listen to workers and worker’s needs,” Madtes said.
That’s not to say he knows he’s got a vote every time.
“But at least we can have a direct dialogue with a commissioner who is open to receive us and not someone 
who will shut the door on us as if we’re bad people.”
Employees told me that they supported Levine not because she promised anything, but because she represented one thing they did not have with Bell: Hope.
This victory may offer them a new pathway for more hope.
This coordination by unions to help a candidate close to their cause not only shows their leadership and members alike what they can do when they put their efforts together, it shows the electeds what unions can do when they put their efforts together. You know, other than fill the commission chambers with green shirts or yellow shirts or blue shirts or rainbow color-of-the-month shirts to speak one after another about the injustices and abuses they take while electeds use them as scapegoats — an approach that has been met with zero results.
Just showing that you will take those complaints to the ballot box, that you are able to raise tens of thousands of dollars and hundreds of volunteers, will have more of an impact. Wait and see.
Because Gimenez and others have been, in effect, put on notice: The employees will not be pushed around anymore. They will, instead, push back.
Pages: 1 2
Unions flex political muscle in Miami-Dade commission upset added by Ladra on
View all posts by Ladra →
