Are YOU Walking Sept. 4?

by Seth Michaels, Sep 1, 2008

Union members are ready for labor walks Sept. 4, the night Sen. John McCain accepts his nomination for the presidency. Many of these activists in Alaska, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, Wisconsin and around the nation will knock on doors, while McCain is giving his speech, to let our union brothers and sisters know that McCain will tax our health care benefits, take educational opportunities away from our veterans and privatize our Social Security. 

Below and in video clips, union members across the nation tell why they’re walking Sept. 4 and why they’re supporting Sen. Barack Obama for president.

What better way to spend Labor Day week than getting ready to take back America for working people? (Union members: If you want to get involved, click here to find the walk nearest you and sign up.) 

This country cannot afford another four years of George Bush economics.…I was recently at the AFSCME Convention in San Francisco, and we got to hear Barack Obama. He supports labor, and I think he’s going to be great for this country.
—Valerie Kenny, AFSCME/ASEA Local 52, Anchorage, Ala.

In John McCain’s plan, he wants to add a tax on our health care benefits, and we feel that’s not acceptable at all….We’re going to go door to door to make sure that our union brothers and sisters realize that this is a very important election, and each and every one of them needs to come out.
—Wedrick Hollinsworth, business agent, BCTGM Local 372 B, Indianapolis

I’ll be on the walk Sept. 4 to support Barack Obama Let’s keep our unions strong, and our freedom stronger. It’s time for a change.
—Laurie Waterhouse, CWA Local 36047, St. Louis

I feel Barack will be better for the country. We definitely need a fundamental change in this country. I feel Barack will do something for the health care issue that we face, and he’ll be good for us, as union members, with the Employee Free Choice Act, and I think he’ll bring out a better side of the country.
—Joel Allen, IUPAT District Council 7, Milwaukee

I’d like to encourage all union members to get out on Sept. 4 and walk in support of our candidate, Obama, and additionally to show our discontent with John McCain, as that’s the day he’ll officially be accepting the nomination of the GOP.
—John Brothers, IUOE Local 181, Louisville, Ky.

This country’s headed down the wrong path. We need to change the leadership of this country for working people. John McCain isn’t for the Employee Free Choice Act. Barack Obama supports it. He wants to give working people the benefits, pensions and health care that they need to survive in country. I’m looking forward to building a better future by waling Sept. 4, and I hope my brothers and sisters will join me.
—Todd Hornyak, NALC Branch 78, Columbus, Ohio

I’m walking Sept. 4 to make sure Barack Obama gets in office. If McCain wins, he’s a Big-Business man, and he wants to do everything for Big Business and not so much the little man. As far as Barack Obama is concerned, I see him as someone who will try to help everyone, with health care and prevailing wages.
—Dusty Strausbaugh, LIUNA Local 574, Marion, Ohio

I’d like to invite all our UAW brothers and sisters across the country to do these labor walks and help make sure Senator Obama is our next president.
—Dave Pawloski, UAW Local 2093, Kalamazoo, Mich.

The reason I’m walking is to educate the members on John McCain, and also to educate them on Barack Obama and the positive things he’s said about labor.
—Alton Glass, president, USW Local 8888, Norfolk, Va.

Pennsylvania AFL-CIO President Bill George is challenging Pennsylvania union members to volunteer for walks and knock on more doors than ever, and union members in the state, including ATU member Clay Davis, say they’re up to the challenge. Here’s what some other Pennsylvania union members had to say. 

John McCain is out of touch with working families. He is against the Employee Free Choice Act, he wants to tax health care and he hasn’t met a free trade agreement yet that he didn’t support. Our members need to know that John McCain’s policies hurt working families and their financial future.
—Tom Bates, president, Bucks County Central Labor Council   

I don’t like the direction that this country is going. Our members are hurting and I want to make sure we turn it around this year.
—Mike Rembelinsky, political coordinator, NALC Local 308, Philadelphia 

Anyone who is in education or public service knows that John McCain is bad for our members. We hope to have upwards of seventy members out walking on the fourth. And we already have 225 volunteers committed to work on other aspects of the program after the walks. We want our members and all Americans to know that John McCain does not support working families.
—Dee Tancredi, political director, AFT, Pennsylvania 

Let’s not put ourselves through another four years of what we’ve been suffering under for the past eight years. Let’s get out there on Sept. 4 and make sure all working families know that John McCain is just business as usual. He is just more of the same failed policies that the Bush administration has given us. Let’s get out there and talk to our members and turn this country around.
—Paul Collins, ATU Local 85, Pittsburgh  

In New Mexico, a state decided by less than 1 percent of the vote in the past two elections, unions around the state are working hard to educate and mobilize every member. 

I will be out there on Sept. 4 to help promote the campaigns for Obama. I think that one of Obama’s strengths is that he motivates young people to be involved, and I want to support that.
—Lawrence Rodriguez, executive director, AFSCME Council 18, New Mexico

I will walk on Sept. 4 because McCain accepts his nomination that night and we need to let everyone know why he is not right for working families.
—Eleanor Chavez, NUHHCE District 1199, New Mexico

It’s important to get out and canvass on Sept. 4. That is the night to show our strength and unity as working families.
—Joel Villareal, president, AFSCME Local 1211, Albuquerque, N.M.

I will commit to walk on Sept. 4 because we need to get out with our union brothers and sisters to show that McCain is the wrong candidate for us.
—Doug Gibson, political coordinator, AFT, New Mexico

I’ll walk because it’s important that our union brothers and sisters know that we do not support McCain’s policies on working families and the labor movement.
—Dan Seacrist, CWA Local 7076, Santa Fe, New Mexico

Sen. Obama is a breath of fresh air for this country. I will walk on Sept. 4 because I believe that he stands for justice and change.
—Denise Capeless, president, AFGE Local 2063, New Mexico 

Through member-to-member contact, union volunteers will knock on thousands of doors and help turn around America this week.

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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.

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