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20 Days: Walks, Worksite Visits in Key States |
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With fewer than three weeks to go before the election, thousands of union members across the country are talking with union voters and working to send Sen. Barack Obama to the White House and pro-working family candidates to Congress. Through door-to-door walks, worksite visits and other actions, union members are doing the hard work necessary to win in November.
Virginia and Ohio are just two of the states where union leaders and volunteers are making the difference this fall. (If you’re a union member, find out how to get involved in walks, phone banks and worksite leaflets with the AFL-CIO event finder here.)
In Virginia, AFT President Randi Weingarten joined AFT members for a member-to-member neighborhood walk in the Hampton Roads area. Getting out every vote here will be necessary for Obama to win in this swing state, and Weingarten talked with members about Obama’s strong support of public education.
Obama really gets it. I think that we’ll see a change in the Department of Education, we’ll see a change in No Child Left Behind, to really start educating the whole child.
In Ohio, one of the closest states in the past presidential election and a vital battleground this year, the Transport Workers (TWU) are working around the state to get out the vote, reports Ben Waxman, Labor 2008 state director for Ohio. TWU 2019 President Fred Fink is talking with members at worksites and local meetings in the Cleveland area about why they should support Obama for president. TWU volunteers point out to union members how their jobs and their union could be endangered by Sen. John McCain’s anti-union, anti-worker policies and assure them Obama would be a strong leader who would respect workers and unions. Fink says he’s impressed with Obama’s campaign and his message.
He’s a strong candidate. I like the way he keeps talking about the future. I like the way he stays on the issues. He seems to have a command of where the country needs to go.
After a meeting last week, Doug Wegryn, the local’s political coordinator, distributed worksite fliers to TWU Local 2019 members, who inspect and repair railroad cars at a freight car repair shop outside Cleveland. Wegryn handed out fliers pointing out Obama’s support of jobs, unions and gun rights. In addition to talking about the election in meetings and handing out fliers, TWU Local 2019 members participate in phone banks and walks out of the Cleveland/North Shore Central Labor Council, and Fink sends local union mail. This week, the union is sending a letter about the presidential candidates’ economic policies, detailing Obama’s plans to help keep America’s jobs at home. Health care is another top priority issue for TWU Local 2019 members. Pat Smith, vice president of the local, is recovering from a motorcycle accident and recognizes the urgency of electing a president who will improve and reform our health care system.
I don’t want my co-payments to go up, I know that. They are up high enough as it is.
Fink says the stakes are high in this election for the transportation industry and for all workers.
This is probably the most important election we’ve had in a long time. In the railroad industry, there isn’t anything going on that isn’t affected by the federal government. Whether it’s collective bargaining, health care, our pensions, or the regulations we work under. There’s a real link between our members’ livelihoods and their ability to work, and what takes place in Washington, D.C. We talk about the election continuously, and we try to do everything we can to be politically active.
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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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