APALA Mobilizes Asian and Pacific Islander Working Families to Vote Nov. 7

by James Parks, Oct 26, 2006

There are 614,000 Asian and Pacific Islander American union members in the United States and their votes could be critical in deciding some close races on Election Day. To educate and mobilize these voters, the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA), one of the six AFL-CIO constituency groups, has joined forces with other union and community organizations.

APALA President Maria Somma says:

Asian and Pacific Islander Americans are under assault. Congress hasn’t raised the minimum wage since 1997. Politicians are scapegoating immigrant workers instead of fixing the broken immigration system. To change that, we need to make sure our voices heard in the political process and ensure that our votes are counted.

In Nevada, where Asian and Pacific Islander Americans make up 4 percent of all voters, APALA is leading efforts to reach out to working families to make a difference in the hotly contested races for governor and U.S. Senate.

APALA members have distributed thousands of fliers with tips on voting in Nevada, held trainings on voter protection and set up phone banks to call more than 15,000 Asian and Pacific Islander American working families. APALA also joined with the other AFL-CIO constituency groups, the NAACP and the League of Women Voters to form a voter protection coalition, the Nevada Coalition to Protect Your Vote.

APALA chapters in Michigan and Washington State are actively educating voters about voter rights and opposing anti-worker initiatives, including Michigan’s Prop. 2, which would eliminate affirmative action in the state. In Washington, Asian and Pacific Islander American workers are fighting initiatives that would repeal the estate tax and establish a costly and radical property rights rule. They are backing a proposal to increase funding for bus services in King County.

Meanwhile, APALA chapters in Los Angeles, Hawaii, Washington, D.C., Maryland and Texas are conducting voter registration drives, working in phone banks and working with central labor bodies and state federations to get out the working family vote on Nov. 7.

APALA also has created a voter toolkit, which is available on its website. The kit includes:

• A congressional scorecard, which lists the votes of members of Congress on issues important to Asian and Pacific Islander American workers.
• APALA’s positions on ballot initiatives in Washington and Michigan.
• A guide on strategies for ensuring your vote counts and a national toll-free hot line number, 1-866-OUR-VOTE to call in case of problems on election day. The guide is available in Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese and Korean.

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