Revving Up Take Back America
Early last December, when the International and its affiliates launched the Take Back America campaign, we were reacting to a dismal combination of political and economic events. Those include continuing Presid-ential indifference — and often hostility — to the plight of working families. Since then, nothing has improved. Most of the problems have worsened. So has the public's disenchantment with President Bush (see graph).
AFSCME has responded with our Take Back America campaign, an aggressive program to mobilize members in efforts to protect our jobs and the services we provide. From coast to coast, local drives are underway to fight unfair budget cuts and to lobby at the state and federal levels for polices that will stimulate the economy in a way that's fair to working families. Another goal of TBA is to mobilize members and strengthen the union in behalf of a straightforward political goal: to put us in position, as President McEntee phrased it, "to get George Bush out of the White House and take back Congress and key legislative chambers in 2004."
'TAKE THESE STEPS.' Together with the AFL-CIO, the International in late January ran a resounding full-page advertisement in The Washington Post. The ad told President Bush to "Put America First!" and deliver the nation from the "crisis" his two years in office has created. The text urged three fundamental steps:
Provide aid to help states balance their budgets and avoid cuts in children's health care and unemployment insurance.
Invest in job creation, job training, roads and bridges; fund improved schools and health care.
Give resources to our emergency first responders and others working to ensure that our homeland is secure.
Nationwide, AFSCME affiliates are refining their particular TBA efforts and coordinating among themselves and with the International. In Minnesota, for example, the four councils are working closely together on a fight-back legislative strategy. In such states as Oregon, Washington, Massachusetts, Ohio and Missouri, affiliates are waging campaigns to block cuts and increase revenues by closing corporate loopholes, using fewer consultants and, where necessary, raising taxes.
AFSCME's six unions/affiliates in New York have joined a broad coalition that will press for responsible budget cuts and tax increases — protecting jobs and public services. Similarly, a coalition called ONE Connecticut has begun a campaign to educate the public and lobby the legislature; the group's message focuses on a "fair share" budget that increases taxes on corporations and multi-millionaires.
Stay tuned, as TBA goes into high gear.
