180 Working America Canvassers Set to Contact Members in Nine States

by Mike Hall, May 29, 2007

It’s going to be a busy summer for some 180 Working America canvassers. They will be knocking on tens of thousands of doors in Oregon, Ohio, Minnesota, Kentucky, Maine, New Hampshire, Iowa, Pennsylvania and New Jersey to give working people a chance to make their voices heard on important national issues—especially health care—and to give working families a chance to swim against the tide of downward mobility that’s sweeping away too many hard-working Americans.

 Working America—the AFL-CIO’s community and grassroots affiliate for people who do not belong to a union—provides members with a powerful new way to make themselves heard on the issues most central to their lives. Says Working America Director Karen Nussbaum: 

Our members are the working people whose interests and needs have long been ignored by those who craft the economic policy of our country. As the rich have gotten richer, many of these Americans have been left behind—without health insurance, pensions or wages that can support a family. Joining Working America gives them an opportunity to make a real difference in the policies that shape their lives. 

As part of Working America’s member-driven program, working families determine the organization’s top priorities by voting online or through regular mail. The key issue this year: health care. 

When they are knocking on the doors this summer, Working America activists will ask people what issues they want Working America to fight for in a health care reform plan that provides quality, affordable health care for all without a profit windfall to drug and insurance companies. They’ll also ask people to take action and call on Congress to halt President Bush’s funding cuts for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).  

Launched in 2003, Working America gives a voice on working family issues to workers who don’t have unions on the job. It has grown to 1.6 million members and is moving toward signing up 2.5 million members by Labor Day 2008.  

Working America members—the majority of whom define themselves as moderates or conservatives—have sent hundreds of thousands of letters on working family issues, including tens of thousands to state lawmakers supporting a raise in the minimum wage in Pennsylvania and Oregon. Earlier this year in Washington state, Working America members sent more than 700 handwritten letters in a successful effort to get legislators to support state family and medical leave legislation. 

In the 2006 election, Working America received widespread attention for its “Final Four” campaign, which added 600 staff members who knocked on 153,000 doors in Minnesota, Ohio and Pennsylvania to get out the vote in those crucial days before the election. That effort helped put candidates who support working people over the top in several key electoral districts.

For information or to join Working America, click here.

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