You Are Not Alone

Sometimes it's lonely out there, but the union voice is starting to be heard.

Less than a year ago the AFL-CIO, with help from AFSCME and other unions, kicked off Labor '96, the biggest public education campaign ever undertaken by American labor.

It's both a reaction against the hundreds of millions of dollars worth of propaganda by conservative extremists and a response to union members' concerns about their economic futures.

A new survey of AFL-CIO members by Peter Hart Associates finds that 61 percent say it is important for unions to be involved in national politics and to try to elect pro-worker and pro-union candidates. Some 68 percent say unions need to invest time and money in politics and legislation.

Labor '96 has already produced some results.

This year the AFL-CIO has run television and radio ads in selected legislative districts around the country publicizing the records of U.S. House members on Medicare, minimum wage, pension funds and school loans.

Conservatives have howled at this effort to "manipulate" the media, but these initiatives led to the passage of the first minimum wage increase in years, and a greater willingness among legislators--Republican as well as Democratic--to respond to the issues labor has raised.