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Union Members: Obama’s the Right Choice |
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As the election rapidly approaches, union members are working hard to make sure that Sen. Barack Obama becomes the next president. On health care, jobs, retirement and the economy, Obama is proposing the solutions that will turn around America for all of its working families.
Diana Butsch of the Communications Workers of America (CWA), Bill Taylor of the Utility Workers (UWUA), Helena Lampropolous of AFSCME and Arthur Prouse of the Postal Workers (APWU) are just four of the millions of union members around the country who will be supporting Obama this fall.
Butsch is a nurse affiliated with CWA Local 1168 in Buffalo, N.Y. Interviewed by CWA News, Butsch says her first-hand experience with our current health care system puts her in a good position to understand Sen. John McCain’s health care plan—and that’s why she says McCain’s plan will only worsen the nation’s health care system.
McCain’s plan to tax our employer-paid health care is a disaster for workers and will make a bad health care system worse.
Writing in the September issue of The Ironworker, Frank Migliaccio, executive director of the Safety and Health department of the Iron Workers, agrees that McCain’s health care plan would be a major blow to workers’ paychecks, calling it “a huge tax increase.”
Meanwhile, in the latest issue of Utility Worker, Taylor points to numerous issues in which Obama will fight for workers. Taylor is a member of UWUA Local 600, based in Cincinnati.
I, for one, will be reaching retirement age in the next few years. I believe Barack Obama is committed to protecting the benefits I have worked for at retirement. I also feel that when elected, he will focus on the working families in the United States, providing affordable health care for all and closing corporate tax loopholes so we don’t reward corporations for sending our jobs overseas.
Taylor is a former U.S. Army medic, one of the many union veterans concerned about McCain’s record.
Lampropoulos, a member of AFSCME Local 420 in New York City, tells the union’s Public Employee Press that she appreciates Obama’s strong support of workers’ freedom to form unions and the respect he’s earned here and abroad.
Obama is a breath of fresh air. He speaks to us as working people and stands with us. We can count on him to support labor unions. He has the respect of international leaders, and that means a lot.
Prouse is president of APWU Local 380 in Albuquerque, N.M. He tells Postal Worker magazine that union volunteer participation is going to make the crucial difference in key western states—and winning this election for working families will make a real differences in people’s lives.
You only get what you invest in. If you dedicate the time and effort to study the issues and support the best candidates, you have a much better chance of reaping the dividends—from better pay and benefits to more job security and a healthy and safe work environment.
For more information about Obama and the 2008 election, visit Meet Barack Obama.
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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.
8 Comments
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I disagree.
And if he’s elected, and it all goes to heck…Bush will be blamed.
Just like when things went right, Clinton was praised. If things went wrong, Reagan was blamed.
When will we start thinking for ourselves rather than getting our ONLY political news from our Union? Last I’d heard we had a right to choose in this country without intimidation from our Brothers.
Well why not a few more wars to boast the economy? People you need to look in the mirror and ask yourself. Are my nuts?- Electing an Democrat encourages a bigger disaster than the Great Depression. Gosh I’d keep writing but I’m sure no one’s reading.
I’m a Democrat –Healthcare and an economic stimulus are out of sight? someone needs a class with theyre kids - Economics 101- Daniel–
I’ve been looking in the mirror quite a bit these days. What I see is me, a person who is afraid of an America that is more inclusive than ever before. I look in the mirror and see that equal opportunity does not include me. I see my kids sitting in classrooms with other kids who live in neighborhoods deemed “unsafe.” When I look in the mirror I see my son dating girls who I was taught to despise because they live in the “ghetto.” When I look in the mirror I see a person who is afraid of change. Yes, I’m afraid of changing. I’m afraid to change because my kids will not have all the things that came to me just because I was from the right neighborhood. I’ve worked hard. But if I vote for Obama, my kids won’t have the little slice of the American pie that I’ve worked so hard to give them. Sure, the economy is bad and we’re in a recession, but McCain won’t change the basic playing field for me or my children–I don’t want my kids to have a level playing field because they might not “make it” if America creates equality for us all. John McCain isn’t interested in equality and that’s why I will cast my vote for McCain!
When Bush was selected 8 yrs ago, America started going down hill, we were attacked and for at least 6 yrs. Clinton was blamed. Clinton lied, no one died, Bush lied, and now over 4,000 women & men in uniform have martyred themselves for the lame duck.
When Clinton was president, jobs were created, and he left the WH with a surplus budget. The lame duck has drained the surplus and now with the bail out, he has left the country broke. Obama will now be blamed for not “keeping” his promises as there is no $$ to spend for his projects.
As for the person who does not want “equality”, well bigotry and racism has no place in labor. WE the People are fighting to keep our jobs, have liveable, spendable incomes, affordable health care, a pension when we retire. That is all people who work. Get out of the 40s & 50s and smell the stench McCain and company will continue to emit if elected. 8 years is enough! Let’s have change for the good of ALL people!
And the bottom line is Yes, Bush caused this mess & he don’t care. His silver spoon is polished on our shirt tails while we sweat out a living just to make ends meet.
I’m no bigot. I work side-by-side people who come from places that I can’t even pronounce, let alone spell. A bigot is someone who is mean and spiteful and goes out of their way to hurt the other guy. I’m not that kind of person. I just want to make sure that I give my kids every possible advantage that a parent can offer. I’m up every morning at 5:00 to take my daughter to swim lessons–a sport that she can still compete in without fear.
Things are tough everywhere and hard working families need every advantage they can get. I’m no bigot. I know lots of people who feel that same way I do! Obama represents change–change is not what’s needed, unless it means having less government regulation not more. Awake up–hard working people won’t make it with Obama. He’ll make the playing field more equal for whom? Not me! I don’t need equality! Again, McCain will make government smaller with fewer regulations. That’s really what makes an economy work! Don’t kid yourself! Hard working Americans need less equality, more liberty and if fraternity emerges, then let it be between hockey parents.
You are wrong on so many levels I don’t even know where to begin. Maybe you’re not a bigot, but you’re sure advocating the social inequality card, big time. Why are you so afraid of change? Look around you. We are no longer living in a time during the Industrial Revolution when when you had oil and steel barons, extreme corporate wealth, extremely poor minorities, an increasingly poor middle class, and only a handful of the very wealthy whose children “could have every possible advantage that a parent can offer.” Oh, wait…HISTORY IS REPEATING ITSELF! …and you say you are afraid of change. The last sentence is a real indication of how things will continue to unfold if McCain and his ‘hockey-mom’ running mate get elected.
Do you honestly think your ‘entitled’ children will have more opportunities when we are once again in the throes of an economic disaster which will escalate even more with a Republican following Bush’s plan. Deregulation caused so much of this mess it’s obscene. Do you think the economy works with more deregulation. Well, our government, in the most regulated scheme so far has bailed out wall street with our $700billion. So how’s that working for you. Adding to our national debt is the ‘never-ending war’ philosophy of McCain. He will make sure we get involved in every conceivable international mess, even if we have to create it ourselves (Iraq, for example) to keep people’s minds off our problems here at home. And you may not have to worry about your children or grandchildren having very advantage, because young adults will be drafted. How else do you think McCain is going to continue searching for oil, (oh, I mean terrorists), which becomes a wonderful excuse to play the never-ending fear card.
You are afraid of change, because you are afraid of being in close proximity (outside of a job) with people you do not know or understand. But people from all walks of life, from the extremely poor to the very rich DO want the same things, better schools for their children, safe neighborhoods, opportunities, economic stability, social well being, not unlike you or I.
Dear Notfooled:
Not fooled? That’s up for debate. What isn’t up for debate is that you’re a phony. You may belong to a union, but a union person you’re not.
In fact, that is true of every so-called “union member” who votes for union-hating Republicans. Phonies. Period.
Fools refuse to learn from history. Here, I’ll remind you: Republicans hate unions. They are against the Employee Free Choice Act. They want to tax your health care benefits. They want to privatize Social Security. And they want the U.S. to stay in Iraq until war profiteers have squeezed every last tax dollar out of working class Americans.
If McCain is elected, those “union members” who voted for him and wind up losing their butts (and whose families will likewise suffer) need to look in the mirror for the cause of their misery. (Get that readmoreloudly?)
Self-identifying “union members” who vote for McCain couldn’t carry a real union person’s water can. Period!
Case closed.
What are you people thinking? The past 8 years under Bush have been some of the worst years for Union members ever! There is no indication that they will be any better under McCain. Unions fought long and hard for health benefits and now McCain wants to tax health benefits that are employer provided and some of you are OK with McCain doing that? He wants to provide a $5,000 credit for health care but the average cost per family is $12,000! Our Labor Laws are extremely outdated and we have an opportunity to get the Employee Free Choice Act passed through the House and Senate. McCain and Palin have already stated that they will not support nor sign the Employee Free Choice Act. Barack Obama has said that he will. I dont know why Daniel L commented that if a Democrat gets in “it encourages a bigger disaster than the Great Depression.” The last Democrat that was in (Clinton) gave us the best 8 years the economy in this country has ever seen, plus when he left office he provided us with a $200 Billion surplus. Something George W and his repub buddies pissed away real fast. If anyone thinks that any Republican President will do anything positive for any Unions and/or their members, you had better think again.