It's Time to Win for Working Families: Message from the President
Voters rejected the Bush administration’s anti-worker agenda in last fall’s elections. They sent a clear message that they want their leaders to stand up to the powerful lobbyists and stand up for a new agenda that puts working families first.
We knew the stakes were high and that’s why our union conducted an unprecedented "get out the vote" effort. More AFSCME members participated than ever — making more calls, distributing more workplace fliers and knocking on more doors than in any previous midterm election.
Our efforts were part of the AFL-CIO’s 2006 union voter mobilization program, the most ambitious initiative in our history, reaching 13.4 million voters in 32 states. In the final four days alone, union members made 3.5 million house calls, telephoned 7.9 million union voters and leafleted 6,130 worksites. AFSCME played a major, and widely recognized, role in the elections at the state and federal levels.
But now that the victory celebrations are over, we must hold our elected leaders accountable for safeguarding public pensions, funding essential services and defending workers’ rights.
Why Activism Matters
Politics is important for our union because we elect our bosses — the people who determine our wages, benefits, and working conditions.
We build political power because it gives us the support we need at the bargaining table, in Congress and state legislatures, and when it’s time to stand with other workers who want to build strength by joining AFSCME. Political power helps us achieve good contracts, enact legislation that protects our bargaining rights and win on issues affecting all working families, like protecting Social Security.
Unfortunately, we know the havoc anti-worker politicians can wreak. When Mitch Daniels of Indiana, Ernie Fletcher of Kentucky and Matt Blunt of Missouri were elected as governors (Daniels and Blunt in 2004; Fletcher in 2003), they immediately rescinded state employees’ bargaining rights. We cannot let that happen in any other state or local government. That’s why we must continue to elect more pro-working family candidates.
What Now?
Our priority is to press our leaders to take action to help families get ahead. We want to adequately fund and strengthen public services, improve public schools and make college tuition more affordable.
What’s more, we want lawmakers to protect Social Security and Medicare, and make health care affordable and universally available. We also want lawmakers to raise the minimum wage, restore workers’ freedom to form unions by passing the Employee Free Choice Act and stop sending our jobs overseas.
It’s up to us to hold the lawmakers we’ve elected accountable for achieving these goals. In fact, holding politicians accountable is a key part of the Power to Win plan endorsed by delegates to our 2006 International Convention.
Power to Win, our union’s plan to grow and to build political power, challenges all of us to get active at the grassroots level to achieve the results we seek. That can mean organizing rallies at the State House and at city council offices, or going door to door as volunteer member organizers.
As the New Year begins, it is fitting that we recommit ourselves to activism. That’s the way we can contribute to building the responsible government Americans want and deserve. We look forward to working with officials on both sides of the aisle who believe in that ideal and support our values and vision.
