NEW YORK — Vowing to “ensure a strong and continuing political voice for America’s working families,” the General Board of the AFL-CIO today approved a proposal by AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney to permanently fund union member education, voter registration, and mobilization around legislative and political issues. Presidents of all the unions in the AFL-CIO sit on the General Board.
“The legislative process must not be a one-sided affair, with corporate interests calling all the shots. This commitment by today’s unions guarantees that working families will have a voice in politics,” said AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney.
The labor movement’s growing political activism is considered among the biggest successes of recent years’ effort to revitalize America’s unions and involve working men and women in holding their government accountable.
Through a coordinated political action program, union members increased union household voter turnout from 19 percent of all voters in 1992 to 26 percent in 2000, while non-union turnout went down. Under the program, unions registered 2.3 million union household voters and elected more than 2600 of their own members to public office. The program has been funded through a combination of dedicated per capita income from each union and funds contributed voluntarily by affiliate unions. The action taken today converts the funding fully to dedicated per capital income to assure stable, equitable resources for the program.
Despite growing success with each election cycle, workers face a worsening economic outlook, particularly in job security, retirement security, and health care. “Real life examples of the last year—the Enron scandal, the squandering of the federal budget on a tax cut for the rich, the President’s plan to privatize Social Security, his drive to expand trade negotiating authority and historic unemployment—are proof that working people need a strong voice in politics to shift the balance of power in Washington away from business and back to workers,” said Sweeney.
As the only national organization wholly dedicated to broadening the rights of working families, the AFL-CIO plays a vital role in legislative and political activism. The federation puts issues that matter to workers on the national agenda and is aggressive in demanding that elected officials respond to workers’ needs on issues such as safety on the job, health care costs and retirement savings. These are issues that affect all workers, not just union members, said Sweeney.
The issues-based political program of the AFL-CIO and its affiliate unions does not make contributions to candidates or political parties. It is dedicated to educating and mobilizing the 13 million working men and women of the AFL-CIO.