String of Senate Victories Shows Rejection of Extremist Tea Party Agenda Despite Avalanche of Corporate Cash Poured into Election

WASHINGTON, Nov. 7, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- LIUNA – the half-million member Laborers' International Union of North America – today congratulated President Obama and Vice President Biden on their re-election and urged Congress to work with the Administration to enact his robust economic growth agenda.

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"We also congratulate our union's leaders and members, whose effort was unparalleled in the history of our organization. We have never been prouder of their aggressive and unprecedented efforts to make sure the President has the opportunity to complete the job he started – reviving our economy and focusing attention on the basics of America, including our decaying critical infrastructure," LIUNA General President Terry O'Sullivan said.

"We also salute incumbent Democrats who were re-elected and those newly elected in the Senate and House, whose hard-won victories make us even more optimistic that the President's agenda will succeed," O'Sullivan said. "Despite the avalanche of corporate cash poured into this election, the Presidential and Congressional results show that the extremist Tea Party agenda was rejected."

At the national level, LIUNA mailed more than 700,000 pieces of mail, made more than 350,000 phone calls and dedicated more than 400 full-time staff to President Obama's re-election. Twenty-five Local Union telephone town halls and three national telephone town halls were held, including one on Election Eve which drew more than 30,000 members, 3,000 of whom were in Ohio.

At the state and local level, millions of communications contacts were delivered via phone, email, text messaging, social media and by member-to-member contact. Prior to Election Day, the union increased voter registration among members by 16 percent, with 100 Local Unions reaching 80 percent of members registered. On Election Day, an estimated 7,000 LIUNA members worked in precincts.

"LIUNA members held nothing back in this election because the stakes were so high," O'Sullivan said. "The men and women who build our country believe in the President's plans to restore our transportation systems, to enact an "all-of-the-above" energy policy and grow an economy that creates good jobs and rewards work, not just Wall Street. It is imperative that Congress now shift course away from obstruction and toward cooperation and compromise for the sake of our country and the middle class."

The half-million members of LIUNA – the Laborers' International Union of North America – are on the forefront of the construction industry, a powerhouse of workers who are proud to build America.

SOURCE Laborers' International Union of North America