Trumka: This election is about electing economic patriots, and saying no to corporate traitors.
New TV and radio ad to air over Labor Day weekend on baseball, NASCAR, NCAA football To view ad, go to www.aflcio.org
(Washington, DC, Sept. 1) - Aggressively outlining the stark choices before working people this Labor Day and in the fall elections, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka detailed plans for weekend events in more than 200 communities highlighting good jobs and launched the final two months of grassroots mobilization for the fall elections. Trumka also announced TV and radio ads running on Labor Day weekend in key markets around Major League Baseball games, NASCAR, and college football games.
This is a defining Labor Day for working people-and the kick-off to the final round of a defining set of elections, said Trumka. We will either rebuild a fundamentally different economy that values hard work and a strong middle class-or turn back toward one that puts corporate interests before people.
In state after state, he said, the elections have come down to a choice between leaders who will stand with working people as economic patriots vs. those whose right-wing agenda will choke off economic recovery and put corporations back in the drivers seat. He noted that union members are deeply concerned about creating good jobs and a strong middle class, stopping outsourcing and rebalancing trade policies. As a part of the AFL-CIO program, union volunteers have already distributed almost 2 million flyers in a summer mobilization effort at over 300 worksites, he said-the prelude to a fall push that will be many times bigger.
Trent McNutt, a member of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) from Toledo, Ohio also joined the briefing. McNutt is currently unemployed and said, Im on track to make a third of what I made last year but things are looking up. We cant afford to turn back. We
need to elect people who support guys like my dad and not the super wealthy. We cant afford to put people in office who will forget about the middle class.
Laura Jackson, a Communications Workers of America (CWA) member from Moberly, Mo., talked about the mobilization by union families and why its so important. She said, jobs and a good economy are the most important issues. I believe this election is even more important than the past elections because we cant turn back. Thats why I plan to volunteer as much as possible for working people.
Commenting on the determination of working people to find a way out of the bad economy and make things better, AFL-CIO Secretary Treasurer Elizabeth Shuler detailed the AFL-CIOs work over the past year reaching out and engaging young workers. Shuler said young workers would be a key part of the AFL-CIO 2010 political program. She also pointed to the work of Working America, community affiliate of the AFL-CIO, in engaging workers without a union on the job around economic and election issues, citing their work to mobilize jobless workers and women voters.
AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker said the AFL-CIO will be a major partner in the October 2 mobilization for One Nation Working Together as a part of the labor federations fall offensive.
Holt Baker said:
Were fighting for working families-and the Tea Party and its corporate backers are not going to get the final word. The AFL-CIO is proud to be joining with a diverse coalition of civil rights, religious, human rights, environmental and other progressive organizations as part of One Nation Working Together rally in Washington and across the country on October 2. We are joining together with people from all across America because we are determined to build an America defined by greater unity - with jobs, justice and education for all.
The new Labor Day ad, which can be seen at www.aflcio.org, celebrates the working people who are the backbone of our communities, framing the labor movements fall grassroots political effort. The ads will remind television viewers and radio listeners that its working people working together whove can move our country forward-making things, innovating, building our country, keeping our communities safe, strengthening the future for our children and more.
The ads will be airing on broadcast and cable TV and radio during Major League Baseball games this weekend, NASCAR this Sunday and college football on Monday.
Labor Day 2010 comes a little more than a week before the one year anniversary of the election of new AFL-CIO officers. October 1 will mark the reaffiliation of the Laborers union (LIUNA), which left the AFL-CIO in 2006.
