(The AFL-CIO issued the following news release on May 12.)
WASHINGTON — A new television advertising campaign launched today by the AFL-CIO takes the message of the nation’s pressing domestic issues to the airwaves. The ad will air for one week in two states, and will begin running in more states the following week.
The ads juxtapose the words of working Americans with the priorities of the Bush administration. As the president announces plans to spend a hundred billion dollars to send a man to Mars in a January speech, working Americans call for action on domestic priorities such as creating jobs, providing affordable health care and improving education.
“His priorities are in the wrong place,” says one worker in the ad.
“America’s workers feel that the Bush administration has moved the country in the wrong direction. They see a disconnect between what they are experiencing in their own lives and the response from the president,” said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney.
Workers in the ads say their priorities are jobs, health care and protecting Medicare.
The ad directs viewers to tell Bush that America’s priorities are closer to home. It includes the “America’s Priorities” website address, www.americaspriorities.com, where viewers can find economic facts, personal stories about the jobs crisis and various ways to take action, including contacting President Bush. It points out that President Bush has supported new tax breaks for shipping jobs overseas. The Bush Administration has announced its support for Senate bill 1637, which includes $37 billion in foreign tax breaks. Title II of S. 1637 contains changes that would allow U.S. companies to realize large tax savings when they shift income or operations to low tax jurisdictions abroad. The site also points out that Bush has revised wage-and-hour laws to take away overtime pay from workers, shortchanged our children’s schools, pushed for a Medicare law that will cost Americans more, and wants to privatize Social Security. Visitors to the site can take action by contacting decision makers about the issues that concern them the most.
The ads are part of the AFL-CIO’s continuing outreach program to inform and mobilize America’s working families to exercise their collective clout to influence government policy around issues central to their lives and future. The AFL-CIO is the umbrella organization for America’s unions and represents 13 million working men and women.