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APWU Celebrates Obama Victory
(11/07/12) Working people across the country are celebrating the re-election of President Barack Obama — and breathing a sigh of relief. After two years of relentless obstruction by Tea Party Republicans, Obama won a decisive victory that averted a potential disaster for union members and other middle-class Americans. “Obama’s win is a triumph for working people,” said APWU President Cliff Guffey, “and the labor movement played a significant role in the campaign. APWU members worked tirelessly for this victory, along with tens of thousands of others in the labor movement and every walk of life,” he said. [read more]
Guffey Urges Union Members: Get Out and Vote!
(11/02/12) As Nov. 6 draws near, APWU President Cliff Guffey is urging
union members to “get out and vote!” “With all the new
voter ID laws passed in the last two years, it is more important than ever
that people know what they need to take to the polls to make sure their
vote is counted,” said
Guffey. “This has been a long campaign and the stakes are high, especially
for working people,” he noted. “We must change the direction
of our nation,” the union president continued, “and voters
have the power to do so. “I urge all APWU members to vote on Nov.
6. Vote as if your job and your future depend on it, because they do!”
[read
more]
Vote Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2012
There Are People Who Want to Stop You From Voting. Don't Let Them.
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(10/24/12) New voter ID laws in many states are designed to discourage young voters, students, African-Americans, Latinos, seniors, low-income voters, and Americans with disabilities from casting their ballots. These laws could disenfranchise 11 percent of voters nationwide who do not have official IDs, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University.
As the co-founder of the right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council, the prime instigator of recent voter suppression laws, famously said:
"I don't want everybody to vote… As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections goes up as the voting populace goes down."— ALEC Co-Founder Paul Weyrich
If you are a registered voter, don’t let anyone stop you from casting your ballot. The Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights has set up a toll-free number to report any problems on Election Day. If anyone tries to stop you from voting, call 1-866-OUR-VOTE.
"Laws that make it more difficult for American citizens to exercise their right to vote in the democratic process are a disgrace. I urge every member to get to the polls and to make sure that every voter they know gets to the polls. The stakes are high, and every vote counts," said APWU President Cliff Guffey
Check your registration status at
www.canivote.org. For information about election rules in your state,
www.866ourvote.org/pages/state-specfic-voter-education-materials.
Photo IDs: Why Not? What’s wrong with requiring a photo ID? Many eligible voters don’t have them. Seniors, young voters, urban voters frequently don’t have driver’s licenses, the most common government-issued photo identification. And getting “free” government-issued IDs isn't really free in many cases. Besides the inconvenience of having to visit the Department of Motor Vehicles and wait on line, there is the cost. In many states, it costs money to obtain the requisite birth certificate or other proof of citizenship to get the “free” ID. |
President's Viewpoint
Why We Endorse Obama,
Support Democrats in Congress
|
(09/01/12) As election day nears, I hope all APWU members understand one fundamental truth: Our future depends on our ability to change our nation’s politics. With the Postal Service in the grips of a congressionally-manufactured financial crisis and the country struggling to overcome the Great Recession, APWU members must become soldiers in the battle over the political future of our country.
For postal workers the record is clear: According to Politico, a draft of the Republican Party platform calls for privatizing U.S. Postal Service operations. The GOP has attempted to keep the platform under wraps, in an effort to avoid the firestorm its many controversial planks are sure to generate.
But the section on the USPS tells postal employees all we need to know. It says, “In light of the Postal Service’s seriously underfunded pension system, Congress should explore a greater role for private enterprise in appropriate aspects of the mail-processing system.” [read more]
2012 Elections:
We Must Win the Fight for Congress Too
(09/01/12) With just two months to go before the 2012 elections,
much of the nation’s
attention is focused on the race for the presidency.
Postal Bashers |
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Rep. Dennis Ross (R-FL) |
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) |
But in another important contest, Democrats and Republicans are also vying to increase their power on Capitol Hill and set the agenda in Congress.
Several dozen key congressional races will help determine whether our nation’s economy will continue rewarding the top one percent at the expense of the working families who make it operate, noted APWU President Cliff Guffey.
“It is absolutely essential that we do everything we can to oust anti-union legislators and replace them with members of Congress who will stand up for the 99 percent and preserve the Postal Service from its predators,” he said. [read more]
Who’s on Your Side?
Key House and Senate Members and Their Labor
Ratings
A review of the voting records of current and prospective House and
Senate committee chairmen shows how important it is to elect more
members to both chambers who will stand up for working familes. [read
more]
Mitt Romney: Job Creator or Corporate Raider?
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Romney and his Bain Capital parnters in a 1985 promotional photo. |
(This article first appeared in the July-August 2012 issue of the American Postal Worker Magazine.)
The November elections are expected to be a referendum on who can best fix the economy, and the Republican nominee, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, is running as a “job creator.” But opponents charge he was a “predatory corporate raider” for Bain Capital, a private equity firm he co-founded in 1984 that “stripped and flipped” many of the businesses it took over, often leaving the companies bankrupt and the employees jobless.
“As head of private equity firm Bain Capital LLC, Romney was the lead deal-maker, buying and selling companies to make money for investors,” Bloomberg reported in July 2011. “Whether companies boomed or filed for bankruptcy, the Boston-based firm found profits for Romney, its other executives and investors.” [read more]
Labor Launches Social Networking Tool
To Get Out the Vote in November
Workers’ Voice, the political action arm of the AFL-CIO, has introduced a new online tool called “Friends and Neighbors” to activate and energize working families around political campaigns, legislative issues and holding elected officials accountable.
Friends and Neighbors is both a phone-banking and e-mailing tool that works best when you sign-in using Facebook. With your permission, the tool will match your Facebook friends with voter registration records, and create a call-list for you to contact friends and neighbors to talk about what’s at stake in the 2012 elections. The tool provides a sample script for talking about the election, and allows you to record responses that can be used to help turn out the vote in November. If you don’t have a Facebook account, you can still use Friends and Neighbors by registering with the Friends and Neighbors website. [read more]
The Resurgence of Voter Suppression in American Elections
(This article first appeared in the May-June 2012 issue of the American Postal Worker Magazine.)
No photo ID, no vote. That’s the law in Kansas.
In 2011, the state passed one of the most restrictive voter ID laws in the country, requiring voters to show a photo ID at the polls.
The new law is part of a wave of legislation aimed at tightening access to the voting booth that has swept across the country over the past two years. At least 33 states are considering bills to restrict balloting – or have already passed them.
Coincidence? Unfortunately, no.
[read more]
Election 2012:
The Senior Vote Matters
(09/01/15) Sometimes our readers don’t want to learn the truth
about a candidate. Some members ask why we write about politics,
but sharing information with APWU retirees is part of my responsibility
as your director. The quality of our lives is in the hands of our
elected legislators. APWU retirees are not so independently wealthy
that we can afford to pay for healthcare costs out of our annuity checks
alone, and we cannot afford to have our retirement benefits decreased. So
vote wisely in 2012: Re-elect President Obama. [read
more]
This page paid for by the APWU Committee on Political Action (COPA), and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee. |
Postal Workers Back Obama
