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Union reps rally for Cordray

DeWine aide cites labor endorsements

WARREN — Local union leaders on Friday pledged to rally their members in support of the Democratic candidate for governor who spoke at the United Steel Workers 1375 hall in Warren.

Jose Arroyo, a USW staff representative, said with less than two months to go before the Nov. 6 election, union leadership wants to motivate voters to support Richard Cordray over Republican Mike DeWine.

“We are holding political roundtables and with our membership, conversations about the election, to create opportunities for a grassroots dialect to take hold,” Arroyo said.

Democratic lawmakers are being led on walk throughs in factories to talk with workers, in the hopes the workers will carry the messages to their family and friends, Arroyo said.

Most polls indicate DeWine and Cordray are nearly tied, with many voters still undecided.

Arroyo said it will take a grassroots movement to ensure Cordray is elected instead of DeWine, which is what the USW wants to see to protect collective bargaining rights with a Republican General Assembly that has tried in the past to curb union organizing.

Joshua Eck, spokesman for DeWine’s campaign, said the eight-year attorney general has union support.

“Mike DeWine has been endorsed by business and labor groups alike, some of which have never endorsed a Republican before. He has been clear that right to work is not something on his agenda as governor,” Eck said.

Eck did not answer a question asking if DeWine would veto a right-to-work bill. Cordray said he would veto such a bill.

DeWine plans to keep the Medicaid expansion in Ohio, but with changes, Eck said. Under DeWine, the Medicaid program would include a work requirement and establish a wellness program, Eck said.

Cordray said he would protect the ability to get insurance even when someone has a pre-existing condition.

Both men said they would work on reducing costs for prescription drugs.

During the primary, Cordray won the endorsement of Ohio AFL-CIO, which has 600,000 members.

Unions that support DeWine include the Affiliated Construction Trades Ohio, Northwest Ohio Building Trades and the Tri-State Building and Construction Trades Council.

rfox@tribtoday.com

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