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Yard signs are popping up quicker than the spring flowers. Bumper stickers decorate new cars, covering the rust and dents on older ones. Locally, the air waves are void of any political commercials. However, the mail carriers are getting hernias delivering all the plans for donations to your favorite or soon to be favorite candidate or cause. Are you overwhelmed yet? I hope not.
For the past four years I've represented our Local's interests in Olympia. What has happened each year there has been a result of what you individually and we collectively do prior to the elections and in the voting booth.
Those folks who represent the citizens of this state believe they are doing their jobs and doing it well. This attitude makes me wonder, just what are we saying and doing?
Are we voting as though our jobs depend on that vote, or are we believing the big business lobbyists that we won't have jobs if certain legislation is passed? Does your vote reflect that union phrase "an injury to one is an injury to all?"
Find out how your representatives feel about:
- On the job injuries and illnesses
- Child laws
- Collective bargaining
- Campaign finance reform
- Permanent striker replacements
AND
- Who provides the majority of their campaign funding
- What did they do before they held a public office
These questions don't run party lines. Democrats have the reputation of being worker friendly, but if that were always the case in 1978 when the White House, Senate and House were controlled by the Democrats, we would have had a strengthened National Labor Relations Act. Strengthening the act would have expedited certification election procedures, monetary penalties for employer refusal to bargain and stronger penalties for certain other employer unfair labor practices.
We need to stand firm, make sense of the data, ask the tough questions and clarify the answers. We need to make smart endorsements with candidate accountability.
Our level of involvement in politics should be a constant one. We need to make our opinions and positions known each and every day. We need to know what those representatives are doing, saying and voting on - daily. Those people work for us.
As legislative chair I work for you, the members. As one of your lobbyists in Olympia, I work for you - but I need your direction and involvement. I'm only one voice and unless there is the force of all of us behind the voice, it is only my voice.
Information on issues and candidates needs to come from multiple sources - not just from me and my sources. You need to use the technology that is available today. The Internet is a gateway to uncensored information and reports on the daily activities of our Senators and Congressional Representatives. The Washington State legislature has a web site where daily activities are chronicled. Newspapers from around the country and the world are readily available on-line, for free.
We need to throw off the cloak of apathy and the boots of complacency. We need to wake up and see that friend and foe alike are attacking our livelihoods and quality of work life daily. We need to shake off the divisive issues concerning wombs and guns and look at whether you'll have health insurance to cover the delivery of that baby or the money and vacation time necessary for that hunting trip.
Is affordable day care going to be available? Is there environment to support the elk, deer, moose and birds that you hunt? Is there clear water for you to drink, for fish to swim in? Are there irrigation waters to support the fields that feed us and many others in the world?
Take a close look at the issues the candidates bring to you. What about their opinions on your issues? Be cautious of candidates who reply to your questions with, "Tell me how you see it?" We need to know where they are and make our endorsements from there, and then work hard for our candidates. Help them get elected. Make ourselves extremely visible.
Once they are elected, we need to stay visible and vocal. We need to stay in touch, stay informed, and stay involved - not just one of us, not just one letter from our local, but all our members. One is a start, but when the one comes to visit, the elected representative appreciates the power of the people behind that one voice.
Let us vote as though our lives depended on it this time.
Home ownership program for working families
Underscoring the importance of home ownership for working families, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney joined Seattle Mayor Paul Schell at a press conference in February, at the offices of the King County Labor Council, to announce a $25 million expansion of the Home Ownership Opportunity Initiative, the highly successful, union financed mortgage program that makes home buying easier for union, city, and university workers in Seattle and King County.
At the press conference, Mr. Sweeney introduced some of the recipients of the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust mortgage loans including union members Raymond and Brenda Simon. Mr. Simon, a city Fire Fighter, and Mrs. Simon, a University of Washington employee and member of SEIU, wanted to buy a home closer to their work, but home prices in Seattle had escalated dramatically over the past few years. The Trust Initiative provided the perfect solution, and today the Simons are the proud owners of a home in the city. The program assists union members in learning about sources of homebuyer subsidies and provides other home ownership counseling, which streamlines the home buying process for many.
Flanked by labor, government, business, and community partners, including Ron Judd, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the King County Labor Council, AFL-CIO President Sweeney welcomed several new homebuyers from union households and praised Mayor Schell for his support for the union sponsored mortgage program and for making it widely available to union and city workers:
Owning a home and building strong viable communities have always been a high priority for working families. Our members want to have a stake in the life of their city and their neighborhoods as well as in providing a sound future for their families. Working families rank home ownership right at the top of the list along with good schools, good jobs, and benefits, safe communities and caring for seniors.
The AFL-CIO Home Ownership Opportunity Initiative is an outstanding example of how union pension funds are making a positive and lasting contribution to the lives and aspiration of our members and the community at large. This additional $25 million will help make home ownership more affordable for many union households.
With the additional $25 million, the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust has committed more than $50 million to the city of Seattle and King, Snohomish and Kitsap counties for qualified union members and public employees to purchase their own homes. Since the programs inception in 1998, 135 home owners have received loans under the program, of whom 62% are first time home buyers. To date the program has served members of many different unions including Service Employees, Operating Engineers, Teamsters, State, County and Municipal Workers; Food and Commercial Workers, and Professional and Technical Engineers. Employees of the University of Washington, Port of Seattle and King County are also eligible. The program is administered by Continental Bank.
"This increased commitment of union pension capital highlights how unions build communities - through our labor, our investments, and our active participation in all aspects of our city's life," said Ron Judd.
To inquire about the Home Ownership Opportunity Initiative, contact Continental Savings Bank.
What do you think? Talk about it on the Equalitarian Discussion Board.
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