Unions honed strategies at the DNC

Infrastructure.

That's what John "Johnny Doc" Dougherty wants from Hillary Clinton, if she becomes the next president of the United States.

"I'm going to lobby for a subway from here to the Navy Yard," Dougherty said at last week's DNC convention.

Nobody comes to a political convention without an agenda - not Hillary Clinton, not Bernie Sanders, not the hundreds of lobbyists, and particularly not organized labor.

For them, and everyone else, the convention was about making impressions and making contacts.

For Dougherty, it was more like contact, as he hugged guests, leaned in for kisses, and glad-handed a galaxy of local political figures, including Council members Mark Squilla and Bobby Henon at a boisterous party that his politically connected union hosted at McFadden's Restaurant and Saloon next to Citizens Bank Park.

Over the week of the convention, Dougherty estimated, his union spent more than $80,000 on parties, including $20,000 to $25,000 to host the McFadden's shindig.

"I've been one of the loudest advocates" for infrastructure and the subway line, said Dougherty, who leads both Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the Philadelphia Building Trades Council.

"I'm a construction leader. It will create a lot of opportunities," he said, before pumping yet another hand or going in for a man-hug.

Oddly enough for someone with his title, Michael Podhorzer, the AFL-CIO's political director, spent convention week trying to avoid contact with politicians, or at least candidates.

That's because, under current election law, organizations that remain independent of candidates and their campaigns can mount bigger programs on their behalf - and Podhorzer's role with the AFL-CIO is as an independent.

So, instead of buttonholing candidates - a task better left to his boss, AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka, Podhorzer worked on energizing the foot soldiers - and convincing labor supporters of Sanders' to switch their allegiance to Clinton, or, at least, cement their commitment to defeat Donald Trump.

"It's a chance to catch up and have everybody in the same place from around the country," Podhorzer said.

On the Sunday before the convention opened, the AFL-CIO held a party for its members who were serving as delegates in the convention. The local carpenters' union hosted a similar party for its delegate members , as did other unions.

"Meeting with our members is the most important thing I do," said Mary Kay Henry, president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the union behind the $15-an-hour minimum wage campaign for workers at fast food restaurants, home care, child care and airports.

On Henry's agenda was a full calendar of meetings with other progressive groups and political leaders.

That was Podhorzer's goal, as well.

"One of the opportunities you get at the convention that is really good that you don't get in a national organization working in Washington is [a chance] to meet with people are doing great work in their communities, but aren't part of a national organization," he said.

Those meetings he said, paid off in emails from new acquaintances who want to work with the AFL-CIO's election campaign.

Everyone came with a wish list.

Donald C. Siegel, an IBEW vice president for a territory covering several nearby states, wanted to ask Clinton to turn away a potential tax on so-called Cadillac health plans - the better-quality health plans that some unions win for their members.

For Kenneth Rigmaiden, who leads the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, infrastructure and apprenticeship programs were major priorities and the focused message of every contact with every politician, including Clinton.

She seemed to have gotten the message, he said. "Every time she talks to me, she mentions infrastructure and apprenticeships."

Like Henry and Podhorzer, he built time into his convention schedule to meet progressive groups - labor's increasingly important allies as union member rolls shrink.

In one way, the last-minute agreement by American Airlines, the major carrier at the airport, to talk to SEIU and other groups representing wheelchair attendants and others threatening a convention walk-out was an example of a convention strategy come to fruition.

"It would not have happened without it," said Hector Figueroa, president of SEIU Local 32BJ, the union behind the walkout threat. Even though American Airlines doesn't employ the workers, it does negotiate contracts with the companies that do.

Philadelphia's Patrick Eiding had a laundry list of issues he'd like to discuss with Clinton, with enforcement of existing trade agreements at the top of it.

But Eiding, who leads the Philadelphia AFL-CIO, had something else on his mind - a constant worry over whether the city and its organized labor would deliver on its promise to create a great show for the party and a great showcase for the city.

"We wanted to have labor peace and also to make sure that most of the jobs were done by our local people. I think we achieved every one of those," Eiding said. "The city came out A-1."

How worried was he?

Even as Katy Perry was singing on stage Thursday, Eiding was on his cellphone, calling unions to dispatch more workers to the Wells Fargo Center on Friday to speed up the teardown.

"That's what we do for each other here," he said.

Source: Philly.com