Tracy Emblem is running for U.S. Congress in San Diego’s 50th District in tomorrow’s, June 8th Democratic Primary race against Francine Busby, a Cardiff School Board trustee, to unseat the incumbent Republican Brian Bilbray.
The California Progressive Alliance, Children’s Hope and ECCO PAC endorsed Tracy Emblem in late May and picked up five new labor union endorsements in early June from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers San Diego (IBEW Local 465), International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers (IAM), Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA San Diego Local 89), Utility Workers Union of America, AFL-CIO (UWUA Regional Local 132) and International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE San Diego Local 12) endorsed her in early June. These endorsements brings the total labor support of Tracy’s campaign to 25 unions. Tracy is also the candidate endorsed by the Progressive Democrats of America, as well as several other progressive organizations.
The California Progressive Alliance is a multi-racial, multi-issue "rainbow coalition" dedicated to the struggle for social justice and peace. Their key priorities include economic justice for working families; equal rights for all of God’s children regardless of race, gender, or sexual orientation; international peace and solidarity; humanitarian service; eradicating poverty at home and abroad; environmental protection and sustainable development; and electing progressives to public office and then holding them accountable. Founded in 2005, they have rapidly grown to more than 5,000 members and have emerged as one of the largest and most active grassroots coalitions on the West Coast. They serve as a chapter of the Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) and as an an affiliate of United for Peace & Justice (UFPJ), the largest peace and justice coalition in the United States with over 1,400 member groups across the nation.
Children’s Hope is a humanitarian organization that serves Haiti’s neediest children. They’ve been bringing supplies to schools and free clinics in Haiti’s most desperate slums since 2004. Their volunteers were on the ground in Port au Prince just a few days after the devastating earthquake of January 12 and are currently organizing their third Earthquake Relief trip.
As one of California’s largest Political Action Committees, ECCOPAC is on the front lines of the political battlefield. Based out of Orange County, they monitor all legislative issues that may have a direct or indirect impact on communities in California. Through their efforts and affiliations, ECCOPAC is a potent political voice for hundreds of thousands of individuals throughout the country — particularly in Southern California.
IBEW Local 465 strives for dignity in the workplace for all of our members by collectively bargaining for better wages, benefits, and working conditions. We also endeavor to organize non-union employees so that they may enjoy the benefits of bargaining collectively. Some of the classifications we represent include: electricians, linemen, mechanics, train operators, office clericals, meter readers, gas operators, maintenance personnel, court supervisors, technicians, tree trimmers, laboratory personnel, and more.
The IAM’s 730,000 active and retired members can be found in all 50 states in the U.S. and 10 provinces and three territories of Canada. The Western Territory, which includes California, is the most culturally diverse territory in the Machinists Union. Their members include large numbers of Pacific Islanders, Native Americans, Eskimos, Hispanics, Asians, Middle-Easterners, as well as African-American and Caucasian populations.The industries they represent vary from aerospace to automotive repair, city employees to police, fabrication workers and assemblers of semi-trucks to the people that haul them and the food production workers that help sustain us all.
LIUNA is the most progressive, aggressive and fastest-growing union of construction workers, and one of the most diverse and effective unions representing public service employees. LIUNA members are on the forefront of the construction industry – a sector that is a powerhouse of 12 million workers producing 5 percent of our countries’ economic output. A half-million strong, LIUNA members are united through collective bargaining agreements which help them earn family-supporting pay, good benefits and the opportunity for advancement and better lives.
UWUA is one of the most successful and progressive unions in all of the labor movement. They have over 50,000 members working in the electric, gas, water, and nuclear industries across the United States. UWUA is both innovative and relentless in their interest in and ability to protect utility jobs, and the wages, benefits and working conditions that their members enjoy in their jobs.
IUOE is a progressive, diversified trade union that primarily represents operating engineers, who work as heavy equipment operators, mechanics, and surveyors in the construction industry, and stationary engineers, who work in operations and maintenance in building and industrial complexes, and in the service industries. IUOE also represents nurses and other health industry workers, a significant number of public employees engaged in a wide variety of occupations, as well as a number of job classifications in the petrochemical industry. Founded in 1896, IUOE today has over 400,000 members in 138 local unions throughout the United States and Canada and is the 12th largest union in the AFL-CIO.