Reply #9: Now Here's A Good Idea About What We Can Do! [View All]

LaborTalk for January 26, 2005

Let’s Demonstrate Our Power and Unity
As We Battle Bush on Social Security
By Harry Kelber

While unions debate their differences about the future of the American labor movement, they all agree that the AFL-CIO must become a more influential political force in Washington and state legislatures around the country. President George Bush, by pressing his campaign to privatize Social Security has given them an opportunity to test the power of their political unity.

This is a battle we can win if we pour the same resources into the campaign that we did in the 2004 presidential elections. After so many legislative losses, including the recent defeat on the overtime pay issue, we desperately need a winner to give us momentum for the tough struggles that lie ahead.

If we expect to save Social Security, we won’t do it by repeating the tactics that brought us defeat on the overtime pay issue: sending more than a million e-mails, faxes and phone calls to sway the votes of recalcitrant members of Congress. We can’t win major battles with spitballs.

To win on Social Security, we’ve got to show we’re really angry — and adopt an “in your face” attitude to make the Washington political establishment realize how passionate we are to preserve the federal retirement system. We¹ve got to campaign with the same vigor and commitment that we showed in the 2004 elections. And this time, we don’t have to be bound by the strategists of the Democratic Party.

We had 5,000 staff people deployed in the 2004 election. Can we get 1,000 to mobilize a full-scale campaign across the United States? We distributed 32 million leaflets, then. Can we distribute 10 million, now? How many phone banks can we organize in each city and town to save Social Security? We were able to get 225,000 volunteers to hold one-on-one talks with workers on job sites and in their communities. Can we repeat that unprecedented achievement?

To show that Social Security is as important as we say it is, we should be able to call upon 100,000 workers — union and non-union — to come to Washington to tell President Bush and every member of Congress, as forcefully as we can, to stop undermining a national institution that has provided a safety net for retired Americans for 70 years. We should demand face-to-face meetings with each Senator and Representative and picket those who refuse in their home district.


So what will it be?

http://www.laboreducator.org/bushss.htm