AFL-CIO JUMPS INTO PA GOVERNOR’S RACE WITH DIRECT MAIL TO UNION HOUSEHOLDS

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.midatlanticlabor.com/appiesnet/wordpress/?p=1458



AFL-CIO
Media Release

October 4, 2010

For Immediate Release
Contact: Marty Marks 412.352.0317

AFL-CIO JUMPS INTO PA GOVERNOR’S RACE WITH DIRECT MAIL TO UNION HOUSEHOLDS
As Polls Show Race Tightening, Unions Target Corbett with Hard-Hitting Message

Pittsburgh, PA – In yet another sign the gap in the Pennsylvania Governor’s race is beginning to close, the national AFL-CIO added Dan Onorato to the list of gubernatorial candidates getting support in the form of direct mail to union households. The national unions’ mail program started three weeks ago with a barrage of mail targeting Republican Senate candidate Pat Toomey and half-a-dozen Republican house candidates, but this is the first week the nation’s largest labor federation has weighed-in on the Pennsylvania governor’s election.

Labor is stepping up its criticism of Corbett on several fronts. Among other points, the mail targeting Corbett takes him to task for asking for a 13% increase in the Attorney General’s Office budget while simultaneously calling for drastic cuts in public education when on the campaign trail. In addition to the mail, Corbett is under fire from Pennsylvania AFL-CIO President Rick Bloomingdale for saying in a Chamber of Commerce sponsored debate he would tax workers’ paychecks to raise money to pay a $3 billion unemployment compensation debt owed to the federal government while ruling out making businesses and corporations pick up any of the tab.

Pat Toomey is also taking a postal beating from the labor movement for the fourth consecutive week. This week’s message focuses on Toomey’s support for privatizing social security. “Toomey wants to take away the savings that came from every paycheck we worked for and jeopardize them in the stock market,” the mail points out. The most significant change this week in the U.S. Senate campaign mail program in PA is, for the first time, both positive and negative mail will hit union household mail boxes. A second piece focusing on Joe Sestak’s record supporting working family issues in Congress is being added to the mail mix.

Direct mail is one component of a multi-faceted political program designed to educate and mobilize union members. The AFL-CIO, a federation of labor unions with more than 11 million members, believes mail is an effective tool within the labor movement because union members count on their unions to be trusted messengers.

To see PDFs of the Pennsylvania mail visit the Labor2010 website at pa.aflcio.org

[anthroguy101]

1. They should send these to everyone, not just union members. nt.

[femmocrat]

2. PSEA sent out a nice glossy flier to PA teachers about two weeks ago.

It says that Corbett would eliminate our pension plan, eliminate our right to strike, base teacher pay on test scores, and abandon the state school funding formula.

Scary stuff! I hope my fellow teachers turn out en masse for Onorato/ Sestak. The repukes would be disastrous for public education. Glad to hear the AFL-CIO is jumping into the frey.