Washington, DC–(ENEWSPF)–April 12, 2012 – At a press briefing Workers’ Voice announced plans to activate and energize networks of working families – both union and non-union – around political campaigns, legislative issues and holding elected officials accountable.
Participants noted that as mega millionaires like Willard Mitt Romney, the Koch Brothers and large corporations plan to try and buy the 2012 elections, Workers’ Voice will activate and energize networks of working families to have their voices heard by coming together to organize their friends, family, co-workers and neighbors, powered by “cutting-edge technology and old-fashioned energy.”
“For too long our political process has been dominated by too much money, and too much power, concentrated in the hands of too few,” said AFL-CIO Secretary Treasurer Liz Shuler. “That’s why Workers’ Voice was created — to build an independent voice for the working and middle class. That voice will be fighting for the 99% – working people joining together to recognize the value of hard work and call for good jobs, a fair economy and to build a strong middle class.”
Shuler continued, “The labor movement was the original social network and Workers’ Voice will be taking our organizing knowledge and applying it to the digital era while making these tools available to all working families. We will have a voter registration and protection operation that will be unlike anything we have ever done before. This will largely be done outside the union membership and will be dedicated to helping communities of color, seniors, and students exercise their right to participate in the process.
Theresa Brown, a worker from Cooper Tire in Ohio said, “It doesn’t matter if you’re in a union or not because we’re all fighting corporate greed and it’s time that we stood up and took this country back because we’re tired of it.”
Susan Baskett, who is from Michigan and jobless said, “Politicians aren’t paying attention to, or doing enough, to put people like me back to work. Workers’ Voice will let us connect with other people in similar situations so we can work together to organize our neighborhoods and communities.”
Michael Podhorzer, AFL-CIO Political Director outlined how Workers’ Voice would merge the digital and field worlds by:
Empowering people to use the Workers’ Voice website to activate their networks to join on email, Facebook and Twitter.
- Allowing people to use the Workers’ Voice website to make their home a phone bank at any time using “click to call” and to send their own customized direct mail postcards.
- Allow people to use our new relational voter data tools to merge their online networks into the phone bank and canvass persuasion and GOTV universes.
Workers’ Voice announced that the upcoming FEC filing will show a total of $5.4 million raised and previewed their plans to build an online and offline small dollar fundraising program.
Finally, Workers’ Voice announced that Eddie Vale will serve as the Communications Director and Tim Tagaris as the Digital Director.
For more information – www.WorkersVoice.org
Source: aflcio.org
