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April 22, 2008
McCain: A Third Bush
Term
Today's primaries may determine who
gets the Democratic Presidential nomination, but the Republican
nominee has been known for some time. 
Or has
he?
Many people are beginning to ask
tough questions about John McCain: what does he really stand
for? Many more need to start asking these questions. Recent
polls show McCain to be competitive with either Obama or
Clinton, yet both his voting record and policies are nearly
identical with George W. Bush, the least popular president in
modern history.
To help accomplish this, ILCA has
established the McCain Communications Tool
Kit at
ILCAonline.org, loaded with info exposing him for
the savagely anti-worker politician that he is. New items
in the Tool Kit include:
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A list of 10 things to know
about McCain from MoveOn.org.
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At CtWConnect, Change to
Win's official blog, Jason Lefkowitz shows how McCain's
proposed changes to the tax system--like the Bush tax cuts of
the past eight years--would only benefit those who make over
$200,000 per year.
McCainRevealed, the AFL-CIO's web-based "book," lists many interesting
facts about McCain, such as:
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"McCain Opposed Health Care
for Millions of Children. McCain voted against
reauthorizing the State Children's Health Insurance Program
(SCHIP) because he said it covered too many children. He then
missed critical votes to provide an additional $35 billion to
cover 4 million more children."
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"McCain Voted with the Bush
Administration 89 Percent of the Time. Since President
Bush took office, McCain has supported Bush's positions 89
percent of the time. McCain's support of Bush's policies reached
as high as 95 percent in 2007."
You can also download and distribute
flyers about McCain's positions on
health care and his over-all voting record.
And much more. Distribute
these resources freely to your members. And if you have
other info--fact sheets, articles, videos, etc.--that aren't in
the kit that you can share, please send them to: McCainToolKit@aflcio.org.
Eye on
the NLRB
 American Rights at Work's
Erin Johansson has been researching the National Labor
Relations Board in an effort to expose its record under
Bush as an enemy of workers rather than a government agency
concerned with workers' rights.
The result: Eye on the NLRB, a blog about the inner workings of this deeply flawed
federal bureaucracy, and how it continues to fail to protect
workers from illegal firings and other abuses.
Check out the blog and share
it with your members as a way to get educated about why
union organizing campaigns should be decided by majority sign-up
instead of the corrupted NLRB election system. The old
system isn't working!
National Women's Health Week May
11-17!
May 11-17, 2008 is National
Women's Health Week, and the Coalition
of Labor Union Women (CLUW) has got some
great suggestions for how your union can participate:
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Put on a health
fair or hold a health seminar.
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Include a health
section as part of an education program/monthly
meeting.
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Bring in speakers
on health to meetings.
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Sponsor a wellness
walk.
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Look into negotiating a
"wellness program." Unions can initiate them with
management or have their own.
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Ask the union to sponsor a
speaker at a community organization that you belong to.
This can make people aware of your union and how it benefits the
community.
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Write a letter to the
editor to your community newspaper or issue a news
release to make sure the community sees your union's involvement
with health and wellness.
If you do sponsor an event, be sure
to add it to the national calendar of events for Women's Health
Week at:
http://www.womenshealth.gov/whw/events/register.cfm
Mourn for the Dead, Fight
for the Living:
Workers Memorial Day
2008
April 28 is Workers' Memorial Day. In
a time when even doctors feel pressured to
under-report workplace injuries and illnesses, it's more important than ever for union members
to voice their outrage at corporations' failure to protect
workers.
To commemorate those who lost their
lives on the job this year, and to help improve the safety and
health condition for those who toil in unsafe workplaces,
the AFL-CIO has a number of offerings for union
communicators to use:
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Posters and clip
art to add to your newsletter or
website;
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A state-by-state
profile of workplace safety and
health;
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Workers' Memorial Day
talking points;
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Sample press
releases, letters to the editor and
articles;
These items and more can all be found
on the AFL-CIO's Workers Memorial Day web
page.
Employees Cast Wary Eye on
Delta-Northwest Merger
A collaborative
article by Workday Minnesota
and Press Associates International describes the terms of the
recently announced Delta-Northwest airline merger and the
reactions of the various unions involved. Read about how
the IAM, ALPA and AFA-CWA plan to deal with the much-publicized
merger in this week's Swapping Stories
section.
Also in Swapping
Stories:
Preserving or Distorting the Heritage
of the New Deal by Martin Halpern; a
historical analysis of the National Labor Relations
Board
Labor Formally Protests Bush Family
Leave Weakening by Mark Gruenberg of
PAI
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