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As the election rapidly approaches, union members are working hard to make sure that Sen. Barack Obama becomes the next president. On health care, jobs, retirement and the economy, Obama is proposing the solutions that will turn around America for all of its working families.
Diana Butsch of the Communications Workers of America (CWA), Bill Taylor of the Utility Workers (UWUA), Helena Lampropolous of AFSCME and Arthur Prouse of the Postal Workers (APWU) are just four of the millions of union members around the country who will be supporting Obama this fall.
Butsch is a nurse affiliated with CWA Local 1168 in Buffalo, N.Y. Interviewed by CWA News, Butsch says her first-hand experience with our current health care system puts her in a good position to understand Sen. John McCain’s health care plan—and that’s why she says McCain’s plan will only worsen the nation’s health care system.
McCain’s plan to tax our employer-paid health care is a disaster for workers and will make a bad health care system worse.
Writing in the September issue of The Ironworker, Frank Migliaccio, executive director of the Safety and Health department of the Iron Workers, agrees that McCain’s health care plan would be a major blow to workers’ paychecks, calling it “a huge tax increase.”
Meanwhile, in the latest issue of Utility Worker, Taylor points to numerous issues in which Obama will fight for workers. Taylor is a member of UWUA Local 600, based in Cincinnati.
I, for one, will be reaching retirement age in the next few years. I believe Barack Obama is committed to protecting the benefits I have worked for at retirement. I also feel that when elected, he will focus on the working families in the United States, providing affordable health care for all and closing corporate tax loopholes so we don’t reward corporations for sending our jobs overseas.
Taylor is a former U.S. Army medic, one of the many union veterans concerned about McCain’s record.
Lampropoulos, a member of AFSCME Local 420 in New York City, tells the union’s Public Employee Press that she appreciates Obama’s strong support of workers’ freedom to form unions and the respect he’s earned here and abroad.
Obama is a breath of fresh air. He speaks to us as working people and stands with us. We can count on him to support labor unions. He has the respect of international leaders, and that means a lot.
Prouse is president of APWU Local 380 in Albuquerque, N.M. He tells Postal Worker magazine that union volunteer participation is going to make the crucial difference in key western states—and winning this election for working families will make a real differences in people’s lives.
You only get what you invest in. If you dedicate the time and effort to study the issues and support the best candidates, you have a much better chance of reaping the dividends—from better pay and benefits to more job security and a healthy and safe work environment.
For more information about Obama and the 2008 election, visit Meet Barack Obama.
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Paid for by the AFL-CIO Committee on Political Education Political Contributions Committee, www.aflcio.org, and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.
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Tags: Barack Obama, John McCain, Working Families Vote 2008, unions, union, union blogs, labor
Channels: Legislation & Politics, In the States
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