November 12, 2006

WE DID IT! A Special Message from AFSCME President Gerald McEntee.

Below is a special message from AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee on yesterday’s election results and what this new direction means for AFSCME members and all working families.

IMPORTANT: If you voted for a new direction yesterday, then tell us why. Click here to tell us why you voted for a new direction.

Also, check out our election 2006 photo gallery of AFSCME members getting out the vote. Click here for photo gallery.

We did it!

Tracey Conaty
|AFSCME E-Action Network

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Dear AFSCME Brothers and Sisters:

Working families won big yesterday – and I’m proud of the decisive role that the members of our great union and the entire labor movement played in this election.

Because the stakes were so high, our union conducted an unprecedented “get out the vote” effort that involved hundreds of thousands of AFSCME members.

And as a result, today is a new day in this country. AFSCME and the entire House of Labor helped elect many strong, pro-worker leaders.

We helped win six new pro-worker governorships yesterday, including the election of Martin O’Malley in Maryland and Ted Strickland in Ohio – both huge victories for public employees.

We also posted major gains in state legislatures, taking back chambers with pro-worker majorities in at least nine states.

And while the do-nothing Congress failed to give workers a raise, the people stepped up: Yesterday, they raised the minimum wage in all six states where it was on the ballot.

What’s more, the so-called Taxpayer Bill of Wrongs measures – which would slash the vital public services that people depend on – were defeated everywhere they were on the ballot. In Oregon, Nebraska and Maine, voters rejected constitutional spending caps that disregard pressing public needs.

We are counting on this new slate of leaders to help workers, just as we helped them achieve so many great victories. There will not be a repeat of Katrina on this government’s watch. There will not be serial neglect of our first responders. There will not be massive rollbacks of collective bargaining rights and workplace protections.

For six years, President Bush has pushed an anti-worker agenda that enriches corporations and the wealthy, while neglecting – even punishing – working families. The Republican Congress has been complicit in this great national sellout. Their rubber stamp has been revoked.

Indeed, voters said NO to politicians who turned their backs on the middle class. Too many hard-working Americans are struggling to get by and not getting one bit of help from the politicians elected to serve them.

We said want our leaders to take real action to help families keep up and even get ahead.

We want our elected officials to make our public schools great and make college tuition more affordable.

Yesterday, voters said loudly and clearly that we want to strengthen Social Security and Medicare. To make health care more affordable – and available to everyone. To adequately fund critical services. And to lower the cost of medicine for our seniors instead of raising the profits of the mega-pharmaceutical companies.

Today is a great day for the 1.4 million members of our strong union and it is a great day for all working people. We look forward to working with public officials on both sides of the aisle to give Americans the kind of responsible government they want and deserve. And we are going to hold pro-worker leaders to their campaign promises to safeguard public pensions, fund essential services and defend workers rights.

In Solidarity,
Gerald W. McEntee
President
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees