Labor & Employment Law

Working America Mobilizing Unemployed Voters

By James Parks

Who better to keep candidates focused on the real issue in this election?jobs?than the very people who are out of work? Working America, the AFL-CIO?s community affiliate, is organizing and mobilizing unemployed workers to go to the polls in November to make sure that candidates who favor outsourcing or don?t support workers join them in the unemployment lines.

Starting with its own unemployed members who are registered voters, Working America is reaching out to everyday voters on the streets. Field organizers in 12 cities are talking with unemployed workers at unemployment offices and job training facilities. Workers at these facilities will have the chance to fill out ?Help Wanted? petitions to send to Congress asking them what they?ve done to create jobs and help unemployed workers.

Working America Director Karen Nussbaum says although millions of people are unemployed and underemployed, and millions more are worried about the future:

Some politicians are willing to play politics with the survival of unemployed workers and their families. We’ll make sure that unemployed workers get out and vote, and that they know the records of the candidates on issues like extending unemployment insurance, investing in jobs and preventing outsourcing.

Working America is stepping up its field mobilization efforts in the fall with a tele-town hall that will reach 20,000 unemployed voters across the country to talk about unemployment, job creation and the November elections. Next month, the group will host a ?Pledge to Vote? postcard campaign.  Workers in several cities will organize informal get-togethers where they will write personal notes to other unemployed voters, encouraging them to vote to create jobs.

Working America also manages the Unemployment Lifeline, www.unemploymentlifeline.com, an online site for unemployed workers to communicate with other unemployed workers and access vital local and national resources, such as listings for local unemployment offices, childcare and healthcare facilities.  And starting in October, workers will be able to use another Job Tracker, another Working America online resource, to look up companies in their towns that are outsourcing jobs, endangering their workers or violating their rights at work.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on August 18, 2010 (boomark / email).