Henson Rallies Union Rank-and-File in Atlanta at Get Out The Vote Event!
From left: GA AFL-CIO Sec.-Treasurer James Williams, GA AFL-CIO President Yvonne Brooks, former Maritime Trades Dept. Sec.-Treasurer Dan Duncan, IATSE President Matthew Loeb, IFPTE Sec.-Treasurer Gay Henson, IFPTE Member Cyndi Hurtt.
In the closing days of the 2024 election, some 200 union members gathered at the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) Local 479 union hall in Atlanta for a rally with union leaders, including IFPTE Secretary-Treasurer Gay Henson, before heading to canvass union households and Get-Out-the-Vote.
Henson spoke in front of the energized crowd by emphasizing the difference between the presidential tickets and the high stakes for all Americans and working people, telling union members, “We need a Harris-Walz win to keep our unions strong. Without a union, all of your safeguards will be gone — OSHA, gone! Overtime provisions, gone! Seniority provision, gone! Without a union, there will be no one there to protect workers.”
Other speakers at the rally included IATSE International President Matthew Loeb, Georgia State AFL-CIO President Yvonne Brooks, recently retired AFL-CIO Maritimes Trades Department Sec.-Treasurer Dan Duncan, and Georgia AFL-CIO Sec.-Treasurer James Williams.
In illustrating the impact of Project 2025, a sweeping set of corrosive policies drafted by former President Trump’s advisors and Trump Administration officials and intended to be implemented if Trump is reelected, Henson said, “People like to say that the labor movement gave us the weekend… But what most people don’t realize is that we still have the weekend because the labor movement fights hard to keep it every single day. Our ability not just to win, but to keep rights for workers is why we are the primary target of Project 2025.”
While the Trump campaign and the Project 2025 agenda is keyed in on stripping back worker protections, collective bargaining rights, and government that serves the public interest, Henson contrasted Kamala Harris’s record on protecting union pensions to supporting the Protecting the Right to Organize Act. “She has a plan to strengthen unions and allow us to do what we do best,” said Henson.
At the concussion of the rally, union members from IATSE, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), and other unions participated in a canvassing training before door-knocking on union members’ homes to encourage them to vote and vote for the candidates that back labor unions and working people.