2008 Elections
Rank-and-File
Action Checklist
Ideas for getting your local mobilized and involved ...
Put the need to stop McCain on the agenda of your next local union meeting. Review the following suggested activities with your fellow officers or executive board, and decide on a plan to maximize voter education and turnout among your members. Activate your stewards to implement the plan.
Look over our (downloadable) leaflets. Decide how many copies you will need, and how you will get them made. Make a detailed plan that spells out who will distribute these flyers to which group of union members. You will need to distribute leaflets on more than one occasion between now and Election Day.
Use the "kNOw McCAIN" stickers (they'll be sent to your local in late October) to magnify our message
Keep checking this website - www.ueunion.org - for regular updates on UE Political Action. While you're at the website, sign up yourself and other activists in your local to receive periodic e-mail alerts from the UE Activist Net.
Organize a get-out-the-vote phone bank for your local. This is especially important if your members work in multiple locations and/or over several shifts. Pick an evening or two in late October, and get to work on the phones. If you have several people making calls, while one looks up phone numbers, you can accomplish a lot. Try it!
Reach out to other UE locals in your area and pool your efforts. Retirees and laid-off members can also help - ask them. How about distributing one of the UE flyers at an unorganized workplace nearby? Non-union workers have been clobbered during the Bush years, and they need to hear UE's message.
Connect with others in your community. What are other unions and organizations doing to increase turnout on Election Day? Contact them and work together to magnify your efforts.
Take our message to the public! Organize a plant-gate or roadside demonstration to urge the community to get out and vote for change on November 4. Contact the local news media - a photo in the newspaper, or coverage on radio or TV, could help spread our message to working people throughout your region.
Need help brainstorming, or have questions?
Contact the UE Washington Office at 703-299-5120 or e-mail uewashington@erols.com. Take photos of your activities and send reports to the UE NEWS (uenews@ranknfile-ue.org), 412-471-8919.