APWU Activists Making the Difference

As Election Day draws near, APWU members are out in force from coast to coast, canvassing neighborhoods and making phone calls to union households on behalf of worker-friendly candidates. 

In an effort that is perhaps typical of our union members’ good works, activists in the “battleground” state of Colorado, as elsewhere, are channeling their participation toward Labor 2008, the AFL-CIO's political education and election action program. 

The multi-union campaign is paying off in Colorado, as Barack Obama and a slate of union-backed candidates are leading in the polls and gaining momentum. Union-backed candidates include U.S. Senate candidate Mark Udall, and U.S. House candidates Betsy Markey, Ed Perlmutter, Diana DeGette, Hal Bidlack and John Salazar. 

Colorado’s union members are also fighting to pass labor-backed ballot initiatives that would expand healthcare coverage, curb corporate crime, and provide “just cause” protection for workers subject to arbitrary firing decisions. They also are working to defeat a so-called “right-to-work” amendment to the state’s constitution, which would undermine all workers’ rights to organize.

On behalf of Labor 2008, APWU members are exercising their right to be fired up. “We’re going to turn out. We’ve been turning out,” says Denver Metro Area Local member Tina DeSautels. “We’ve been walking since April. We have even leafletted our worksites. We have never that done that before — ever." 

The local has sent out four member-to-member mailings and, DeSautels added, "We’ve phone banked out of our hall. We’re going to be walking in the small towns to find every single union member and explain to them just how desperately important this is.”

APWU Secretary-Treasurer Terry Stapleton, who participated in two labor walks in Colorado in October, said “This is important work. No one can talk to a union member like another union member. It’s important for everyone to be actively involved in this election; to vote in this election, and to support candidates who support working men and women.” 

That’s the message that union members can — and should — bring to other union members, Stapleton said. “Door-to-door, member-to-member. This is what makes a difference. This is what puts the right people in office.”

The Denver Metro Area Local’s leafletting program is unprecedented. “We believe we need a labor-friendly person in there this year,” said Charlie Garcia as he handed out APWU fliers for Obama at an entrance to a USPS facility. “Hopefully, this one way to help get him in there." 

The Denver local does not leaflet and walk alone. “It’s such a great chance for us right now to get people on board politically," said Chuck Bader Jr., treasurer of the equally enthusiastic Colorado Springs Area APWU Local. “It’s an amazing opportunity.” 

"If we can get the right issues passed and the right people elected, in 2009 our chance of passing the Employee Free Choice Act goes way up, and the union movement comes back stronger than it was back in the 1930s and 40s,” Bader said. “It’s so exciting out here.”