Workers' Voices, a front group for the AFL-CIO, has been billed as the "largest union super-PAC," even though its own website declares it is not an exclusively union-oriented organization. "Workers’ Voice represents and fights for all working families, union and non-union," the site proclaims.
It is no real secret, however, that the super-PAC is the creation of the AFL-CIO. Filings show that the group is housed in the labor union's vast Washington, D.C. offices. Last year Eddie Vale, now Workers' Voice's communications director, made $81,274 working for the AFL-CIO. Vale is a former Democratic campaign hack.
The super-PAC is poised to become one of, if not the primary AFL-CIO top political tools for the 2012 election cycle. Focusing heavily on grassroots activities and supporter-driven priorities, they have purchased digital ads in key presidential campaign swing states in addition to focusing on the Wisconsin recall election.
Their name, however, may not be the best-conceived political label for a group seeking to sway voter opinion in an election. As it turns out, Workers' Voices is a fairly routine and common name for propaganda newspapers and broadsides affiliated with the Communist Party. In Detroit, a group calling itself the Communist Voice Organization has for a long time published the Detroit Workers' Voice. Worker's Voice was also the name of an Irish newspaper with ties to the Communist Party there. Other Communist Party groups in other nations have also used the name frequently.
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PRESS RELEASES
05/07/1207/Workers’ Voice
announces first wave of online grassroots advertising
04/12/12 Workers’ Voice announces plans to activate networks of working families with cutting edge technology and old-fashioned energy
04/12/12 Workers’ Voice announces plans to activate networks of working families with cutting edge technology and old-fashioned energy
NEWS CLIPS
05/08/12 Tom
Barrett Wins Wisconsin Recall Primary, Faces Scott Walker in June, Huffington
Post05/07/12 Workers’ Voice, AFL-CIO Super PAC, Makes Anti-Romney Ad Buy, Huffington Post
05/07/12 Labor gears up for general election, Washington Post's The Plum Line
05/07/12 Labor Launches First Anti-Romney Ad Campaign, Wall Street Journal
05/07/12 New online ads target workers, Talking Points Memo
05/07/12 AM Email, Washington Post's The Fix
05/07/12 AFL-CIO’s super-PAC to begin running ads targeting Mitt Romney, The Hill
04/12/12 Labor Union Flexes Muscle With Super PAC, Roll Call
04/12/12 AFL-CIO plans to expand labor’s ‘social network’ with super-PAC, The Hill
04/12/12 AFL-CIO forms a ‘super PAC’ focused on union organization,
