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Door to Door, Union Members Mobilize to Turn Around America |
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Phil Hayes, Labor 2008 state director for Colorado, reports on member-to-member walks in Colorado this past weekend. Walks also took place in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Wisconsin and elsewhere across the nation.
This weekend, 92 union members came out in Colorado to talk with their fellow union members about important issues in this election. AFGE, AFSCME, AFT, APWU, ATU, CWA, IAFF, IBEW, IUOE, LIUNA, NALC, NATCA, SMWIA and USW had members walking to turn around America.
This member-to-member walk is part of Labor 2008, the AFL-CIO’s largest grassroots political mobilization in history. In recent days, union members have gone door to door to talk with their fellow workers about the 2008 election, the economy and the Employee Free Choice Act.
In Denver, volunteers talked with other union members about the AFL-CIO’s endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama for president. Colorado is sure to be a crucial state in this fall’s elections for the White House and Congress.
Dave Sanger, an AFT member, said that educating members about the issues at stake is the primary reason he walked on Saturday.
Progressive candidates like Barack Obama stand with us on fixing the American education system and putting a new twist on No Child Left Behind so that it’s really about kids.
Obama has stood staunchly with working families and the union movement, said Chris Nevitt, a member of AFSCME Local 158 and a city councilman in Denver’s District 7.
Electing Barack Obama as president will be a huge watershed event. Not just for our country, but for the world. Barack Obama is a powerful candidate and powerful advocate for the issues of working people. We have to educate our members so they can be confident as they take this bold step for themselves, their community and their country.
The November election is one of the most critical in our nation’s history. It is more important than ever that union members talk with fellow union members about the issues important to them. Lisa Bolton, of CWA Local 7777, walked on Saturday because Obama “stands for working people and we need a change in America.”
Timio Archuleta, a member of IBEW Local 111, knows how critical member-to-member communication is to educate members about issues important to working families.
This is a very important Saturday of walking because it’s national—it’s happening to a whole bunch of different members, and people will start talking about the program.
In many ways—health care, the war, the economy and gas prices—the country is headed in the wrong direction, says John Fleck, president of the Denver Area Labor Federation. Fleck, also a member of SMWIA Local 9, sees this as our time to change directions.
In these troubling economic times, the labor movement needs a champion on our issues, and Barack gives us that champion.
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Paid for by the AFL-CIO Committee on Political Education Political Contributions Committee, www.aflcio.org, and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.
2 Comments
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If Obama is a friend of labor why is the democratic party against drilling for oil and building nuclear power plants? I don’t believe that socialism and the redistribution of wealth is the kind of change that is in the best interest of this country. I watched parts of the unity festivities with Barack and Hillary, it seemed that there is a certain level of desperation when Barack is saying “we need Bill and Hillary for the party and the country”
With all this talk about change and standing up for the working people why is there such an effort to silence the protesters here in Denver when the convention is in town? We as labor can go around and knock on doors spreading our “word” but we will allow our fellow countrymen to be silenced at this important time.
If the Denver Area Labor Federation can organize a rally for illegal aliens to protest for their rights and the City of Denver can block off streets for that rally. DALF should be working very hard right now in support of US citizens exercising their rights of free speech at the convention and Denver should not keep them away from the Pepsi Center. The new president of DALF believes the county is headed in the wrong direction and this is our time to change directions. From where I am standing it looks like the same direction to me. More taxes, more spending, more handouts from the government, more amnesty, more lip service to the rank and file.
Change needs to be more than a slogan. Labor is going around with this mantra and I can think back to a recent election here in Colorado when we helped elect a governor who was a great friend of labor. Things have not gone very well here for us politically since our friend took office.
I’m afraid our country is heading for the last roundup under 20 years of the Clinton/Bush dynasty. Our jobs are being sent overseas, foreign labor are taking what jobs are left over.