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Labor strategist Steve Rosenthal says Kamala Harris fared better with union voters than headlines suggest — and outlines the labor movement’s path forward. By Kalena Thomhave , for Capital & Main Before the election, several headlines suggested that union voters had abandoned the Democratic Party for Donald Trump. And though Trump did indeed win the presidential election on Nov. 5 with many rank-and-file union members’ support, he didn’t win union voters overall. What’s more, Steve Rosenthal, who has worked as an electoral strategist in the labor movement for more than 40 years, thinks the political coin could flip again as soon as 2026. A former political director of the AFL-CIO, where he helped revitalize labor’s political influence, Rosenthal focuses on engaging union members and working-class voters. He is currently president of the Organizing Group, a political consulting firm that works with labor unions to help them get out the vote and win campaigns. The firm runs In Union , a voter mobilization program that reached 1.5 million mostly white working-class voters this year in the battleground states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, as well as Ohio. After Kamala Harris’ loss, Rosenthal believes the labor movement needs to start preparing now for the anti-worker changes that may come from a second Trump administration — and also for the next election. This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity. Capital & Main: I might as well ask the question that everyone is asking about the election: What happened? Steve Rosenthal: For me, the most telling numbers came out of the AP VoteCast poll. Voters who rated the economy excellent or good — 36% of the electorate — voted for Harris 82 to 17. Those who said the economy was not so good or poor — 63% of the electorate — voted for Trump 69 to 29. If you go back to 2020, [the poll results were] almost the exact opposite of that — 43% said the economy was excellent or good, [and they] voted for Trump 81 to 18. The 57% of the electorate who said the economy was not so good or poor voted for Biden 77 to 21. As a lot of people have pointed out, the economy was the No. 1 issue by far for voters. If they thought that things were going OK, they voted for the incumbent [party in] Kamala Harris, and if they thought that things were not going well with the economy, they voted for the change candidate, which was Trump. For a lot of voters, economic issues — forgive the expression — trump fascism, democracy and choice — the cornerstone of the Harris campaign. I think to some voters, [arguments on] those issues were less credible because they lived through four years of Trump. To me, that is the top line summary. I don’t believe there was any huge realignment [or evidence of] a long-term conservative shift. When I was the political director at the AFL-CIO from 1996 to 2002, part of my rap was that the only white working-class voters who were voting for Democrats were in unions. It was true then, and it’s largely true today. And the union vote has actually gotten a little worse. There has not been enough attention over the years to the decline in the number of union members and, therefore, union voters, and what that has meant for Democrats. I’m happy to see people talking about the Democrats needing to become the party of working people again. On the union vote, there was a lot of media discussion about how union members are migrating to Trump despite the Biden administration doing so much for unions. First off, union members voted for Harris in pretty strong numbers. Across the three blue wall states, [there was a] significant performance by union members. In Pennsylvania, union members made up 18% of the electorate. So, almost one out of five votes cast came from union households, and they voted 52 to 47 for Harris, which is better than the Biden vote was in 2020, [when] Biden lost union households to Trump 49 to 50 in Pennsylvania. So, she actually did better. In Wisconsin, Kamala Harris won union voters 53 to 46 — better than Clinton did in 2016 and not quite as good as Biden did in 2020, but still a nine-point margin among union voters in the state. In Michigan, Harris won [union voters] 55 to 44 — not quite as good as Biden did in 2020, but much better than Clinton in 2016. Trump has eroded the union vote a little bit, but not in substantial numbers. The media rush to judgment before the election based on some polls suggesting that union members had abandoned the Democrats, it’s just wrong. What are your thoughts on unions like the Teamsters not endorsing Harris? The Teamsters, as was well reported, stayed neutral. So did the firefighters. But there were 50 unions that supported Kamala Harris. The Teamsters released a poll that said that [nearly] 60% of their members were supporting Trump, and [indicated] that’s why they decided to stay neutral. I’ve seen a lot of union member polls over the more than 40 years I’ve been doing this work. Unions might start off with their members behind 10, 15, or 20 points. But then you put your program into gear and communicate with your members — in this case, for example, point out that Trump supports right-to-work and that Trump ran one of the most vehemently anti-union administrations in the history of the country. And then contrast that with Harris’ record and the fact that Harris cast the deciding vote on the legislation that saved the pensions for hundreds of thousands of union members, including Teamsters. It was inexcusable that the union didn’t take the opportunity to communicate to their members and explain to them what was at stake in this election. Because if they had done that, they would have moved those numbers. No union leader could look at these two candidates and with any degree of honesty suggest that one of them wouldn’t be better for working people. Do you have thoughts on how to reconcile how the economy is doing versus how people feel the economy is doing? It seems that people’s personal experiences don’t necessarily match up with what the headlines say about the economy. I think that’s part of why the Harris campaign tread lightly on promoting some of the data on how inflation was down, because people were not feeling that. There’s an element there about the message and the messenger. It’s not that the party doesn’t stand for workers anymore; it’s that the party leadership is not getting in the trenches with workers anymore. Their accomplishments are partially paid short shrift because there’s a huge degree of cynicism overall about both parties and politics in general. Running a billion dollars in TV ads aimed at working people to try to say to them “We’re with you” — on the heels of 30 years of NAFTA and other trade deals and standing [with] corporations, and not getting in the trenches with workers? There’s a distinction between what the party is doing and fighting for and what people feel and see and understand. Biden was, by all accounts, the most pro-union president in our lifetimes. It must be incredibly insulting to President Biden, Vice President Harris [and others in the administration], who have done so much over the last few years for unions and workers, to be hearing that the party has abandoned them. You said that Democrats need to be doing the work in the trenches with workers. What does that look like? I think it is walking picket lines. I think it’s showing up at union halls. I think it’s gathering groups of working people together and sitting with them and listening to them — doing town hall meetings around your district or state and hearing what people have to say. It means standing united with working people and letting them see who’s really on their side. Over the next couple of years, it’s going to be standing strong against what’s going to be a vicious assault on a range of worker’s rights. There are going to be attacks on [the Occupational Safety and Health Administration], overtime pay, the National Labor Relations Board, funding the Fair Labor Standards Act, and federal workers’ unions. What has been your approach to mobilizing union and working-class voters? With our voter engagement program, In Union, we provide voters with a year of information — we don’t just start talking to them around the election. We give them tips on their families saving money, we provide them with information about unions on the front lines, we give them ways to hold politicians accountable and to fight back. And then we gradually get into communicating about the election itself. We never make endorsements, but we provide people with good, sound information and well-documented citations. How do you see that work evolving over the next few years? As crazy as it sounds, it’s not too soon to start [work for] 2026 in the Blue Wall states, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. In two of the states there will be open governors’ races, and [Gov. Josh] Shapiro will be up for reelection in Pennsylvania. And then — it sounds silly for me to talk about 2028, but every four years the labor movement has the potential to play an outsized role in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. So what we need to do is not wait until October 2026 or September 2028 and start communicating with union members [about] protecting workers’ rights. People want to be engaged. Union members will willingly make phone calls. They’ll talk to their elected officials. They will go to town hall meetings. They are more small-d democratic than most voters because they experience [democracy] in their unions [when] they elect local union officers and vote on contracts. We need to start now. There’s too much at stake for working people with this incoming administration to not start engaging people in January. Copyright Capital & Mainii777 。

High price paid for David Jiricek an acceptable investment for Wild GM Bill GuerinAston Villa’s disallowed goal would have counted in England – Unai Emery

Mozambique’s largely deserted capital was hit yesterday by skirmishes between protesters and police, AFP reporters said, the day after the ruling party was controversially confirmed winners in recent elections. Police in armoured vehicles patrolled the centre of the city, where hundreds of protesters in small, scattered groups threw objects and started fires. Makeshift roadblocks on major thoroughfares were set alight on Monday evening, covering the city with thick smoke, soon after the country’s highest court confirmed the victory of the ruling Frelimo party presidential candidate Daniel Chapo. Chapo’s main challenger, exiled opposition leader Venancio Mondlane, has claimed the election was rigged, sparking fears of violence between rival party supporters. Shops, banks, supermarkets, petrol stations and public buildings meanwhile were ransacked, with their windows smashed and contents looted. Some were set on fire and reduced to smouldering rubble. “Maputo Central Hospital is operating in critical conditions, more than 200 employees have not been able to reach the site,” its director Mouzinho Saide told AFP, adding that nearly 90 people had been admitted with injuries. Forty were injured by firearms and four by knives, he added. Main roads leading to Maputo and the neighbouring city of Matola were blocked by barricades and burning tyres, while the road leading to Maputo airport was largely impassable. Most local residents stayed at home, with the few who ventured out doing to look at the damage or do last-minute Christmas shopping. Christmas Eve is normally a busy time, with large crowds in central Maputo but shops and even small neighbourhood grocery stores were closed, making petrol and bread unavailable. Public transport was also paralysed, with only ambulances and funeral vehicles running. The unrest spread to several cities in the northern part of Mozambique, local media reported, with violence and vandalism in the provinces of Cabo Delgado, Nampula, Zambezia and Tete, where opposition support is strong. More than 100 people have already died in the unprecedented post-election violence, with fears that the toll could increase after Mondlane’s claim of victory. Mozambicans are demanding “electoral truth”, he said in a Facebook post. “We must continue the fight, remain united and strong.” Monday’s confirmation of the result of the October 9 election came despite claims of irregularities from many observers. Chapo won 65.17% of the vote, more than five points lower than the initial results declared by the country’s electoral commission. In the National Assembly, Frelimo has a majority of 171 seats out of 250, down 24 from the announcement in October. “Venancio”, as Mondlane is called on the street, repeated his assertion in a social media message yesterday that the constitutional court was “legalising fraud” and “the humiliation of the people”. “We want to create a People’s Constitutional Court, which will confirm Venancio Mondlane as president,” he said of himself. “I will be sworn in and invested,” he added. Chapo, who is due to take office in mid-January, struck a conciliatory tone in his victory speech on Monday, promising to “talk to everyone”, including his main opponent. Mining disruptionGemfields Group said yesterday disruptions were possible at its largest ruby mine in Mozambique, after people torched buildings in villages nearby in escalating unrest linked to October’s disputed election. Mozambique’s top court on Monday confirmed long-ruling party Frelimo’s victory in the election that has sparked protests by opposition groups that say the vote was rigged. At least 130 people have been killed in clashes with police, according to the civil society monitoring group Plataforma Decide, and the operations of other foreign miners operating in Mozambique, including South32, have been affected. Gemfields said in a statement that “groups associated with the illegal mining and trading of rubies have taken advantage of the political unrest”. It said “instigators” had on Monday set fire to the police station in Namanhumbir, a village close to Gemfields’ Montepuez Ruby Mining Limitada (MRM) in the northern Cabo Delgado province. An MRM office, a community centre and a community radio centre built by the company in Namanhumbir were also set ablaze. “Based on the trajectory of the ongoing situation, there may be interruptions to MRM’s mining operations resulting from this unrest,” Gemfields said. In another village near MRM’s operations, a water borehole was sabotaged, and in a third village people torched the police station, the residence of a local police commander and the administrative offices of Namanhumbir district. MRM is 75% owned by Gemfields and employs about 1,400 people, the company’s website says. Frelimo has been repeatedly accused by opponents and election observers of rigging votes, although it has denied those accusations. The electoral commission has not commented on allegations of fraud in this year’s election.NSW Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News. A mainstream primary school in Sydney’s northwest surged ahead of academically selective and elite private institutions to achieve some of the best NAPLAN results in the state. Non-selective Oakhill Drive Public School in Castle Hill leapfrogged multiple public schools with academically selective opportunity classes and some of the state’s most expensive private schools into the top 20, ranking 16th in this year’s NAPLAN results for Year 5 students . It was also a marked improvement from their still competitive results in 2023, jumping from 42nd in the state. The school’s outstanding results are attributable to a marked improvement in their reading, writing, spelling, and grammar results. The Daily Telegraph’s analysis of the state’s highest performing schools in this year’s NAPLAN has revealed the most improved primary and high schools, and the top performing mainstream schools that outperformed both academically selective and elite private institutions. Every school’s performance has been analysed by averaging Year 5 and Year 9 students’ reading, writing, spelling, grammar and numeracy results in the 2024 NAPLAN. Year 5 students at mainstream, non-selective schools St Ives North Public School, Cherrybrook Public School, Beaumont Road Public School in Killara, Bronte Public School, and Carlingford West Public School made the top 40 in NSW against some selective schools and many expensive private colleges. St Ives North Public School is one of the highest achieving mainstream primary schools in this year’s NAPLAN. Oakhill Drive Public School, Knox Grammar School in Wahroonga and Redeemer Baptist School in North Parramatta were among the most improved, jumping between 18 and 35 places into the top 30 primary schools across NSW. The top 40 secondary schools in the Year 9 rankings were all fully or partially academically selective public high schools, or elite private colleges. But a number of mainstream public high schools still outperformed some academically selective and many expensive private schools – with single sex education evidently still paying dividends for some despite declining demand for the concept. Willoughby Girls High School was the best performing public high school in the state, ranking 44th in NSW, followed by Cherrybrook Technology High School in 71st and Killara High School taking out the 74th spot. Willoughby Girls High School was the top performing mainstream high school in the state. Out of the top 10 highest achieving mainstream public high schools, five of them were single sex girls schools – Willoughby Girls, Northern Beaches Secondary College Mackellar Girls Campus, Riverside Girls in Gladesville, Burwood Girls and Strathfield Girls. The 10th best was Epping Boys High School, with coeducational schools taking out the remaining spots. The analysis reveals many public high schools and some cheaper private schools yielded stronger results than the state’s most exclusive colleges. Year 5 students at nine mainstream public schools outperformed those paying $33,012 a year at Newington College in Stanmore and $36,800 a year at The King’s School in North Parramatta, which came 58th and 59th in the state respectively. Mainstream primary schools North Ryde Public School and Kellyville Public School also outclassed elite private schools including Barker College, SCEGGS Redlands and Presbyterian Ladies College, which have Year 5 fees ranging from $31,740 to to $39,300. Al-Faisal College Campbelltown, which came 11th in the state with fees of just over $2100 per year, outperformed many private primary schools charging more five times as much in fees. Mainstream public high school Willoughby Girls also outclassed elite secondary colleges including Loreto Kirribilli, SCEGGS Redlands, Barker College, Newington, Shore, Kambala, The King’s School and Cranbrook School. TOP 10 NON-SELECTIVE PUBLIC PRIMARY SCHOOLS Oakhill Drive Public School Castle Hill – 16 St Ives North Public School – 29 Cherrybrook Public School – 33 Beaumont Road Public School Killara – 35 Bronte Public School – 38 Carlingford West Public School – 40 Epping West Public School – 46 John Purchase Public School Cherrybrook – 48 Excelsior Public School Castle Hill – 49 Eastwood Public School – 60 MOST IMPROVED PRIMARY SCHOOLS Oakhill Drive Public School Castle Hill – 42 to 16 Knox Grammar School Wahroonga – 33 to 15 Redeemer Baptist School North Parramatta – 60 to 25 Ironbark Ridge Public School Rouse Hill – 81 to 22 TOP 10 NON-SELECTIVE PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOLS Willoughby Girls High School – 44 Cherrybrook Technology High School – 71 Killara High School – 74 Northern Beaches Secondary College Mackellar Girls Campus – 76 Carlingford High School – 82 Riverside Girls High School Gladesville – 83 Burwood Girls High School – 92 Strathfield Girls High School – 113 Crestwood High School – 116 Epping Boys High School – 118 MOST IMPROVED HIGH SCHOOLS Conservatorium High School – 15 to 5 SCEGGS Darlinghurst – 33 to 25 Parramatta High School – 43 to 33 Santa Sabina College – 72 to 39 Pacific Hills Christian School – 120 to 72 Strathfield Girls High School – 126 to 113 More Coverage NAPLAN results reveal top schools in NSW Eliza Barr Top performing schools reveal secret to success Eliza Barr Originally published as NSW’s most improved schools revealed in NAPLAN rankings Join the conversation Add your comment to this story To join the conversation, please log in. Don't have an account? Register Join the conversation, you are commenting as Logout More related stories NSW Full list: NAPLAN results for every NSW primary school We’ve crunched the numbers and can reveal how every NSW primary school performed on their 2024 NAPLAN results. SEE HOW YOUR SCHOOL PERFORMED HERE. Read more NSW Cops arrest two men over alleged $1.4m school building frauds The two men – who The Daily Telegraph understands are related – were arrested on Wednesday morning as police seized electronics, $42,400 cash, a ballistics vest, and luxury watches. Read more

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