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By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, associate publisher.

CLEVELAND, Ohio-Congressional candidate Nina Turner, a former Cleveland councilwoman and prior Ohio senator who later served as co-chair of Bernie Sanders' 2020 campaign for president and is a front runner in the  11th congressional district race in Ohio to replace former congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge, held  a discussion on Thursday evening featuring local and national labor leaders, most of them from Northeast Ohio, and more specifically Cleveland.

Fudge is now the U.S. Housing and Urban Development secretary in President Joe Biden's cabinet.

Ohio's 11th congressional district is largely Black and  includes most of Cleveland, a largely Black pocket of Akron, and select suburbs of Cuyahoga and Summit counties.

It is a Democratic stronghold.

A progressive Democrat like Sanders, Turner, 53 and Black,  is backed by several local and national political leaders and labor groups as the countdown to the special primary on August 3 continues.  After that, a special general election will be held on Nov 3 between the Democratic and Republican nominees for the congressional seat.

The winner will head to Washington, D.C.

The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), which is garnering national headlines for its effort to organize Amazon workers, has endorsed Turner relative to her bid for Congress.

Turner joined Our Revolution and other activists in March for a picket in University Heights, a Cleveland suburb, to support the right of Amazon workers in Alabama to organize.

Moderated by Harriet Applegate, the retired executive secretary of the Ohio North Shore AFL-CIO, Thursday's virtual event with Turner and labor leaders, which touched on efforts to unionize Amazon in Alabama,  drew a lively discussion on Facebook and some 145 Facebook comments.

It aired live on Facebook, and  included the following  panel members:

• Joshua Brewer, Alabama RWDSU organizer, union representative and lead organizer of the Amazon union drive

• William Nix, president of ATU Local 268 of the Amalgamated Transit Union  of the RTA Rapid Transit that serves Cleveland and surrounding areas in Cuyahoga County

• Daleo Freeman, president of APWU Local 72 at American Postal Workers Union

• Yanela Sims, Vice President of SEIU Local 1, a local chapter of the Service Employees International Union

• Frank Matthews, CWA District 4 management director

• David Passalacqua, president of CWA Local 4340 of the Communication Workers of America

Applegate said unions are having a time, not only due to the pandemic but because the establishment continues to seek to undermine organized labor

She thanked Turner for 'bringing the importance of unions and the importance of organizing in our movement today,' and said that unions are key in protecting the rights of American workers

Sims said that most of  the members of the SEIU union she represents in the greater Cleveland area are janitors and cleaners and that their jobs are so important during  the pandemic in terms of keeping places clean and safe.

" It's beyond keeping a place clean but now we are looking at keeping a place safe ,  "Sims said.

Freeman reminded Turner that as a representative of  U.S. postal workers he sees first hand the challenges they face on a daily basis in the workplace and Nix,  a seasoned union president who represents and fights for  greater Cleveland RTA  employees, including RTA bus drivers, said  RTA union members are also having a time and that since the pandemic RTA has lost half of its Northeast Ohio passengers going from roughly 94,000 to 45,000.

Nix said that RTA employees make sure people get to where they have to go during the pandemic and that union members "put their lives on the line daily."

He said more union solidarity is needed and that the last thing the union needs right now are "sellouts."

All of the panelists at Thursday's event said they back Turner to represent the 11th congressional district in Congress.

Nix said that Turner has energy and motivation and could be an asset to Ohio in Congress.

"There is no doubt that this union supports her," Nix said  of Turner. "She has always been a fighter for the people."

Turner thanked all of the panelists and  said America's labor movement is key to protecting the rights of union members and everyday workers, including the working poor,  and that if elected to Congress she will utilize every venue possible to do just that, protect the rights of everyday workers and the underprivileged.

She said that sooner or later, the coronavirus will find its place in the everyday life of Americans

"We will tame COVID eventually, there is promise in the problem, " Turner said.

She  said "postal workers are the heart of the country.”

And she spoke out against congressional filibustering and said the filibuster in Congress is racist and that "it must go."

Turner is one of seven declared candidates seeking the Democratic nomination for the 11th congressional district seat former congresswoman Fudge held until March 10 when the U.S. senate confirmed her to lead HUD.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog. Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, and who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.