Building Worker Power in Public Office

By David McCall
USW International President

Tim Tuttle struck up a chance conversation with an eyewear company executive many years ago and walked away determined to secure the first-ever vision benefits for about 3,600 workers he represented at Corning plants in New York.

The union activist’s negotiations with the company went better than anticipated.

In the end, Tuttle recalled, he and his bargaining team persuaded Corning to provide both vision and hearing care—life-changing enhancements that workers continue to benefit from today.

Tuttle retired six years ago after a long career with the United Steelworkers (USW) and other labor organizations. But now he’s stepping forward once again and running for a seat on the Steuben County Legislature in New York’s Southern Tier, saying it’s essential to bring a focus on working people to local government.

He isn’t alone. Union members across the country will be on the ballot Tuesday in races including mayor, judge and city council because they realize it’s more important than ever for everyday Americans to have a real hand in shaping the future.

As right-wing officials attack workers’ advocacy, organizing and collective bargaining rights, union members need to fight back, step into leadership roles and forge a worker-focused agenda, said Tuttle, explaining why he’s seeking office for the first time.

“I took a lot of pride when we ratified a contract in what that meant to our members and the communities where they lived,” said Tuttle, formerly a local union leader, president of the American Flint Glass Workers and chair of the USW Glass Industry Conference.

Those contracts provided family-sustaining wages and secure retirement plans that enabled union members to support government services, patronize local businesses and spread prosperity through big parts of the state, Tuttle said.

The eyewear company providing benefits to workers at Corning opened a shop in town to make care more accessible to all, he said, stressing that a seat on the county legislature would provide a springboard for further efforts to grow the middle class, build the economic base and improve residents’ quality of life.

“One of my goals and one of my priorities is to try to attract responsible manufacturing to Steuben County,” he explained. “What I mean by responsible manufacturing is businesses that plan to come to the area long term, not just until the tax subsidies run out, and employers that pay living wages and provide health care and retirement plans to their employees.”

Just as important in the current political climate, Tuttle’s years in democratic unions taught him how to bring people together, build solidarity and move everyone forward. He’s already using those skills in the race for county legislature.

“I have a lot of signs in Republican front yards,” he said, citing voters’ disillusionment with extremist Republicans.

The urgent need for a turnaround is exactly what got Gary Clemons into a special election for the Kentucky State Senate, to be held Dec. 16.

“We’re blessed to have a seat at the table,” Clemons, president of USW Local 1693 in Louisville, said of himself and fellow union members.

“I’m really just running for my family members and friends who are getting left behind,” he said, referring to stubbornly high food prices, impending Medicaid cuts and the unstable economy wrought by Republican policies.

Unlike high-profile presidential contests, like the one in 2024, special and municipal elections often draw little attention. Yet every single one is important, observed Clemons, pointing out that right-wing and pro-corporate interests consolidated power in many parts of the country by winning offices at every level of government, year after year.

“Now, it’s time for us to do the same thing,” he said, stressing that races for local and state offices are more consequential than generally believed because the winners deal with jobs, grants and other issues that hit people the hardest. “You’re immediately impacted in your community first.”

Chuck Perko spent years advocating for pro-worker legislation in Colorado, including the successful fight for a 2020 law that provides workers up to 48 hours of paid sick time each year to care for themselves or family members.

The law—affording time off with full pay for preventive care, domestic abuse and a range of other needs—benefits his co-workers at the steel mill in Pueblo as well as millions of other workers across the state.

But Perko, president of USW Local 3267, one day asked himself why he continued to “beg” elected officials for common-sense laws like this when he had the skills, knowledge and experience to make crucial policy decisions himself.

He’s already announced his candidacy for a state Senate seat next year, saying the job is best done by a person whose sense of fulfillment comes from helping others.

Most voters consider their elected officials to be out of touch and indifferent to what they think.

Survey data from the National Council of State Legislatures helps to explain why. Across the country, many lawmakers reported their outside occupations as lawyer or business owner, hardly the kinds of backgrounds needed to represent working families who struggle to make ends meet.

Perko warns that a healthy democracy requires a greater balance, with workers represented by people who walk in the same boots they do.

“Until you get on the shop floor, you never really understand the workplace,” said Perko, who represents about 160 workers at the steel mill.

“You can’t regulate something unless you have some experience with it,” he continued. “You have to be there.”