Labor Union Women Get Out the Vote Through Count to 5! Campaign

by Seth Michaels, Oct 21, 2008

Union women are reaching out to other union women to make sure they vote this fall.

The Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) is stepping up efforts to get every working woman involved in November’s election.

Through its Count to 5! campaign, CLUW is encouraging members to find five friends, neighbors, co-workers or family members and get them to commit to voting to protect working women in the election, as well as to help them get to the polls or vote absentee.

Women likely will make up a majority of the electorate this fall, and the issues at stake are especially crucial for working women. Sen. Barack Obama has a strong record and the right proposals on the issues that matter to working women, while Sen. John McCain would continue the Bush-era economic policies that have hurt women. CLUW gives a detailed comparison of the policy differences between the two candidates. Here are some of the key issues:

• Obama wants to give everyone access to affordable, high-quality health care. McCain would impose a new tax on health care benefits.

• Obama strongly supports equal pay for equal work, and left the campaign trail to vote for the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which would give women the ability to fight pay discrimination. McCain opposed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, saying it was unnecessary.

• Obama wants to expand early childhood education, make college more affordable and recruit and reward new teachers. McCain has voted to divert public school funding to private schools and against funding Head Start and other vital programs for kids.

• Obama supports a secure retirement and has pledged to protect Social Security benefits. McCain supports privatizing Social Security.

Women reaching other women voters also is part of the get-out-the-vote efforts by Working America, the AFL-CIO community affiliate. Across the country, members of Working America are writing postcards to women, urging them to go to the polls. By talking with other women one-on-one at work, in their neighborhoods and in their union halls, union women around the country can spread the word about the differences between the candidates on the economy and the issues that matter to working families.

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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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