Working America: ‘The World Cannot Change Unless We Make Our Issues Known’

by Stephanie Taylor, Dec 28, 2006

The holidays are a great time to look back at what we’ve accomplished and prepare to move forward in the coming year. For Working America, a community affiliate of the AFL-CIO and the nation’s fastest-growing organization for working families, the biggest news in 2006 was our victory as part of the Labor 2006 political action program. We’re proud to report that our 1.55 million members (and growing) made a big difference.

If there’s any doubt that union power equals working family power, check out the AFL-CIO 2006 post-election survey from Peter D. Hart Research Associates. In House races, union voters supported Democratic candidates 74 percent of the time (versus 26 percent for Republican candidates). In battleground Senate races, union voters supported Democratic candidates 73 percent of the time.

Those are huge margins. But there’s more. Working America had more than 400,000 members in the 20 highest-priority Congressional races. Polls show our members voted for candidates who care about good jobs, affordable health care and a higher minimum wage—over and over. In the Ohio Senate race, more than 72 percent of Working America members voted for Sherrod Brown (D) over anti-worker candidate Mike DeWine (R). 

Thousands of Working America women members attended “Stir the Pot” house parties. They also wrote more than 120,000 postcards urging women voters who don’t normally vote in midterm elections to do so. Other Working America members participated in the “Final Four” days of the election, knocking on 153,000 doors in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Minnesota in a final push to get out the vote. We’re so proud that our members made such a difference in these key national races Nov. 7.

But this year, we also accomplished a lot at the state and local levels:

• Working America members sent 70,000 handwritten letters to state legislators on issues such as raising the minimum wage in Pennsylvania and protecting family and medical leave in Washington state. For many state legislators, receiving hundreds of handwritten letters from their constituents made a difference in their vote.
• Working America members took half a million other actions, including online actions like sending 100,000 e-mails directly to elected officials and corporate leaders.
• Working America’s canvass built a community of more than 900,000 new members nationwide—in places as diverse as Tampa and Toledo, Pittsburgh and Portland, the Twin Cities and Jackson, Miss.
• Working America members supported important working-family ballot initiatives in Ohio, Colorado and Oregon.

But the best testament to our success comes from our members.

Says Melvin Ferman, a member from Cleveland:

Before I was a member of Working America, I didn’t follow politics and what it meant to me and my family. I feel the issues are important, and I think Working America is working to improve the conditions in Ohio.

Meagan Jeronimo, a Working America member from Houston, puts it this way:

It’s important to share links to groups like Working America so that we will have resources to draw upon and a way to participate in the national debate.…The world cannot change unless we make our issues known.

We agree, Meagan.  Stay tuned in 2007. With more than 1.5 million members ready to fight for working family issues, and a Congress finally ready to pay attention, anything is possible.

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