Together with AFSCME members and the entire union movement, Dave Warrick, executive director of AFSCME Council 62 and a union member since 1989, have spent months getting out the vote among Kentucky working families. At stake is the state’s gubernatorial election in which working families’ candidate Steve Beshear is challenging anti-worker Gov. Ernie Fletcher. AFSCME, UAW, United Steelworkers and dozens of other unions are working in coalition with the Kentucky State AFL-CIO to defeat Fletcher.

Kentucky’s AFSCME workers probably took this governor’s race more personally than just about anyone else. Gov. Ernie Fletcher’s first order of business was to take away our collective bargaining rights as state workers, a right we fought hard to gain under Gov. Patton’s administration.

With the stroke of a pen, Fletcher dashed that all away. His biggest mistake, however, was to think he could get away with it. AFSCME has been more engaged and energized than ever before, and it’s because we know what’s at stake.

Fletcher has shown us how both policy and politics can so directly impact the lives of workers and their families. And we know Fletcher isn’t alone in his anti-labor stance and that it’s our job to root out anti-working family politicians all across the country.

Kentucky is a pivotal step in taking back America, especially when it comes to local races. Beating back Fletcher will become a model for what grassroots labor can do in their own localities. Fletcher has shown us how important these races are, and AFSCME, together with Kentucky’s entire labor coalition, has responded.

AFSCME’s ability to see the big picture is what has made this the best political program I’ve ever seen. The coordination and communication has been unparalleled. The energy at our phone banks, walks and leafletings, as well as the effectiveness of our mail, has been outstanding.

Nov. 6 will prove to be an immensely important victory for working families in Kentucky, and we intend to make that a national trend.

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Paid for by the AFL-CIO Committee on Political Education Treasury Fund.

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