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At labor rally, frustration with Specter is palpable

PITTSBURGH—Organized labor’s dissatisfaction with Senator Arlen Specter spilled over into clear view Saturday morning, when the new Democrat was met with skepticism—and even some hostility—as he spoke at a rally here for the Employee Free Choice Act.

During his ten-minute remarks to a couple hundred union workers assembled outside the Westin Convention Center, Specter sought to focus attention on his past support for initiatives important to organized labor, and in what is becoming a familiar talking point, he touted his role in helping to pass President Obama’s stimulus package. As workers chanted for him to “pass the vote,” he said he was working on a compromise for the “card-check” bill.

“I’m committed to find an answer which will satisfy you, and I’m optimistic we can do that,” Specter said.

But that wasn’t good enough for many rank-and-file union members in the crowd—some groaned in displeasure, some booed, and at least one hurled an epithet at Specter.

“You want my vote? I want yours!” John Heinlein, a retired ironworker, shouted repeatedly until Specter was forced to acknowledge him.

Attempting to calm the crowd, Specter said: “I understand your job’s on the line and I understand that my job’s on the line. I understand that, and I believe that you’ll be satisfied with my vote on this issue. And if you’re not, I recognize your right in a free society to cast your vote as you choose.”

Later, after Specter left the makeshift stage to chants of “Free Choice Act,” Heinlein told pa2010.com that Specter was on thin ice.

“I voted for him in the past,” Heinlein said. “But he can’t fence-ride on this. If he wants our support, he has to vote for this. If he votes against this, he’ll never get my vote again.

“He says he wants an amendment,” Heinlein added. “That’s not the question. If the bill comes up as it is, will he vote for it? If he doesn’t, he doesn’t have my vote.”

Tom Crawford, a union communications worker, was more willing to give Specter a chance to prove his pro-labor bona fides.

“I want to find out what changes he wants ot make to this Employee Free Choice bill,” Crawford said. Asked if he would back Specter if the Senator voted for the bill, he said “absolutely.”

But for some, Specter’s switch to the Democratic Party is too little, too late.

“Arlen Specter only cares about Arlen Specter,” said Pat O’Malley, a neighborhood newspaper columnist and the wife of a union ironworker. “He’ll never get my vote.”

The contrast between Specter and his new Democratic colleagues was striking. Whereas labor leaders and Democratic members of Congress—including Specter’s likely primary opponent, Congressman Joe Sestak (D-7)—took the stage to raucus applause, Specter was greeted far more cooly. As he stood inside the rally bus waiting to be introduced, a late-morning shadow hanging over him, AFL-CIO head Bill George made the stakes clear.

“I’ve got to tell you, Arlen Specter knows what pressure is,” George said. “He knows when there’s a fire under his ass, and you built that fire.”

In his brief remarks, Sestak was unequivocal in his support for card-check, which he has sponsored in the past.

“Are the facts there about worker intimidation? They are,” he said.

Clearly enjoying that union workers were approaching him to offer their thanks and support, Sestak told pa2010.com that a compromise could work for him, but only if it the unions support it.

“IF we can get EFCA through, I’m here 100 percent,” he said.

June 6, 2009 at 11:36 am

--Dan Hirschhorn

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