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Announcement :: Civil & Human Rights : Elections & Legislation : Labor : Political-Economy |
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AFL-CIO Launches 'Who's On Our Side' Campaign On Behalf of Working Families, Releases National Poll on Workers' Issues at Mid Point of 109th Congress |
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by AFL-CIO
(No verified email address) |
14 Dec 2005
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AFL-CIO Sec.-Treas. Trumka Announces Aggressive Campaign Beginning in 10 States Targeting Members of Congress on Wages, Retirement, Trade and More |
On a press conference call today, Richard Trumka, Secretary-Treasurer of the AFL-CIO, announced the launch of an intensive national campaign -- the AFL-CIO's "Who's On Our Side" campaign -- which will seek to hold members of Congress accountable for the votes they cast for or against the priorities of working families.
Trumka was joined on the call by Guy Molyneux, senior vice president of Hart Research, who released the results of a poll conducted for the AFL-CIO that found broad dissatisfaction with the direction of the country and deep concern over Congress' approach to issues of importance to working families.
Trumka announced that as the first salvo in the "Who's On Our Side Campaign," the AFL-CIO will organize a series of events in 10 states to release report cards grading the performance of elected leaders in those states on working families' issues in 2005. The report cards evaluate members in five categories: Jobs and Wages, Retirement Security, Health Care, Tax Fairness and Education. Within these categories the AFL-CIO examined the votes cast by members of Congress on trade, the minimum wage, community wage standards, child labor standards, protections for wages and pensions, Medicaid, health care, consumer protections, tax cuts for the wealthy, student loans and funding for public education.
Trumka announced that the initial 10 states which have been targeted as part of the campaign and where report cards will be released beginning this week are: Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, Wisconsin, Colorado, Iowa, Missouri, Maryland and Montana. The report cards for many of these states can be found at: www.aflcio.org/reportcards.
"At a time when a large majority of Americans say the country is moving in the wrong direction, the mission of the AFL-CIO is to fight for America's working families and that means serving as a watchdog and holding politicians accountable when they stand on the wrong side of workers," said Trumka. "The AFL-CIO's 'Who's On Our Side’ campaign is going to make sure working families know who's on their side on issues that are vital to their futures. Working families -- with the facts in hand -- have the power to take back the country and make sure we are represented by leaders who are fighting for our best interests, and not the special interests, every day."
Trumka said the announcement of the state-based campaigns and release of the report cards was the first element of a campaign that will extend well into next year. Press conferences releasing the report will be held in front of the offices of House and Senate members who scored the worst or near the worst on the report cards. Trumka said the first phase would also include meetings with editorial boards, conference calls with opinion makers, OP-Ed columns and letters to the editor on issues of importance to workers.
Trumka said subsequent events at the local level would mobilize grassroots activism and develop ground troops to put working family issues -- like those included in the report cards -- at the top of the 2006 congressional agenda. The public events, he said, will include town hall meetings, worker roundtables, seminars and policy discussions which will highlight the plight of working families and the uneven economic recovery that is not helping working families squeezed by higher energy prices, increased health care costs and unfair competition from abroad.
On the call, Molyneux released a national poll conducted for the AFL-CIO which concluded that the vast majority of Americans are dissatisfied with the direction of the country and the leadership being provided by elected officials on issues important to working families. The poll was conducted from December 1-4 and was intended to review Americans' assessment of the state of the nation, satisfaction with the priorities set by Congress and President Bush and reactions to a number of key legislative decisions made by senators and representatives over the first half of the 109th Congress. By a two-to-one margin, voters say their nation is off on the wrong track today. Just 29 percent say that America is headed in the right direction, while 56 percent say it is "off on the wrong track." Concern about the nation's direction rises to 64 percent among working women and 63 percent in working families with incomes under $40,000. Nearly six in 10 voters in the Northeast (59 percent), Midwest (60 percent), and West (58 percent) say the country is on the "wrong track", while southern voters are somewhat less negative (48 percent, with 35 percent saying the country is headed in the right direction).
The survey documents that Americans are deeply dismayed about domestic trends. It asked voters to apply the right direction/wrong track standard to five key domestic issues, and the proportion saying we're on the wrong track exceeded those saying we're heading in the right direction for every issue, usually by a large margin. Two-thirds feel we are on the wrong track when it comes to the critically important areas of health care (69 percent) and retirement security (65 percent).
The nationwide survey was conducted among a representative sample of 801 registered voters, with a margin of error of +/-3.5%. A summary of the research is posted at www.aflcio.org. |
See also:
http://www.aflcio.org
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