(HOMESTEAD, PENNSYLVANIA) - Leo Gerard, who serves as President of the United Steelworkers Union, is calling November’s Presidential Election “the most important” in the past 80 years when it comes to the future of Labor Unions in America.

Gerard, speaking in Homestead on Saturday, said ballooning Corporate Money in Politics threatens to overwhelm the Voice of Organized Labor and only a strong showing at the Polls from Union Members will force Lawmakers to address the Campaign Financing Issue.

“In ten years, without a change in campaign finance - we will lose the right to Bargain Collectively,” he said.

The Advertising Research Firm Borrell Associates has estimated that spending in the 2012 Presidential Race, including by the Candidates, Party Committees and Outside Groups, could hit $9.8 billion, which is 40% higher than the 2008 Presidential Race. 

And without Strong Unions, Gerard argued, the gap between the Rich and Everyone Else will only widen.  To combat those trends, Union Members need to come out in force to support President Obama, he said.  

And, more importantly, if Obama is elected, they need to demand that he take up policies important to Labor Unions.

“We dropped the ball last time,” Gerard said, referring to Obama’s first term in the White House. “When he wins, we have to make sure the people around him move forward on our issues.”

Gerard spoke to about 70 people gathered at a former Pump House for the Homestead Steel Works, the site of a Failed Labor Strike in 1892.  The speech was sponsored by the Battle of Homestead Foundation, which commemorates the historic event.

America and Unions experienced rising prosperity in the years from the end of World War II until the early 1980s, Gerard said.  But since then, Union Membership has declined and more of the wealth generated from American Industry has flowed to the top of the economic ladder.

“At this point in our Economic History, at this point in the evolution of America, and at this point in Global Economic History, the gap between the rich and the rest of us is the greatest it’s ever been,” he said.

Union Membership in the United States has dropped from 20.1% of Workers in 1983 to 11.8% in 2011, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Meanwhile, Income Growth has been faster among top earners, according to the Census Bureau.

The top 5% saw their Inflation-Adjusted Median Income grow by 45% between 1985 and 2010 to $287,000.  During the same period, people in the Bottom Two-Fifths of Earners saw Median Income rise just 3% to $19,835.

“I can’t guarantee that we’ll win every fight,” Gerard said. “But I’ll guarantee that if we don’t fight, we’ll lose.”