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Elections Are About Choices

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AFA-CWA President Veda Shook (left) canvasses in Washington State.

Below: Activists remember the civil rights activists killed for registering African Americans to vote.

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AFA-CWA International President Veda Shook spent a day with activists from the Washington State Labor Council, meeting with candidates and walking neighborhoods to encourage working Americans to vote.

Ballots for the election went out Oct. 19. Washington State and Oregon conduct their elections by mail.

Following a session at the UA (Plumbers and Pipefitters) hall with labor-backed candidates Rep. Jay Inslee, who's running for Governor; Suzan DelBene, candidate for the 1st congressional district; and State Treasurer Jim McIntire, activists fanned out for labor neighborhood walks to talk one-on-one with their union neighbors.

Before the walk, Shook talked about why the "labor neighbor" program was so successful and how contact with union co-workers will make all the difference in the 2012 election. Shook also thanked Inslee for his strong support for workers' rights and his vote to safeguard bargaining and organizing rights in the Federal Aviation Administration funding bill.

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About 50 activists, including members of CWA Local 6215, Jobs with Justice, MoveOn, Texas Organizing Project and Texas Alliance for Retired Americans rallied outside the Dallas County Records Building as early voting in Texas began on Oct. 22. Local President Brett St. Clair and activists handed out leaflets that focused on why "Texas Seniors Have a Big Stake in These Elections," and urged everyone to vote. Early voting runs through Nov. 2.

Many of the activists carried signs remembering civil rights activists who were killed in Mississippi because they were registering African Americans to vote.

The Texas State Employees Union, CWA Local 6186, sent an email blast to all members alerting them about early voting. TSEU reminded members that voting matters, and determines "how we want our State and Nation to be run. This decision has never been more important in our state, after enduring one of the worst sessions in over 50 years. Last session, we witnessed the Governor and the majority party CUT AND GUT some of our most crucial public services. The collateral damage has been felt by us all."

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CWA Local 7072 President Estella a Madrid leaflets in Albuquerque.

In New Mexico, CWA public sector members are leafleting public school-food services workers, making sure that CWA members know just what's at stake in the November elections. Estella a Madrid, President of CWA Local 7072, and a crew of activists got creative in leafleting maintenance and operations members at the Lincoln complex in Albuquerque.

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Senator Bob Casey met with about 140 CWA members at the D2-13 district conference in Hershey, Pa., this week to talk about his plans to keep good jobs in the United States, his commitment to fair trade, safeguarding Medicare and other big issues in the November election. Casey is in a tight election with Republican Tom Smith.

Casey, along with Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, is also a Senate sponsor of the U.S. Call Center Workers and Consumers Protection Act, S. 3402, which would penalize companies that move call center jobs overseas. There are about 200,000 Pennsylvania workers employed by call centers.

"We're concerned that some of the steps companies are taking to outsource jobs, those steps are being taken without consequence. We also have concerns about fraud, concerns about confidentiality being violated" in overseas call centers, he said.

The tax code has to be fixed to eliminate "perverse incentives" for companies to re-locate overseas, Casey said. Under current tax law, companies get a tax break for moving jobs offshore.