UFCW stewards from coast to coast were a critical component of the incredible grassroots movement that united to elect Barack Obama in 2008 and bring a worker-friendly majority in to power in both houses of Congress. We walked countless blocks, registered thousands of first-time voters and brought uncounted new voices into the political process. Record numbers of people in every city and town, men, women, young people and retirees of every background were engaged and committed to shaping our country’s future for the better.
When President Obama took office, he inherited overwhelming challenges: irresponsible leadership for the previous eight years had given our country two wars, an economy in crisis, a broken health care system and record deficits.
Together with the President and Democrats in Congress, we didn’t hesitate to tackle the Bush mess. We pushed for laws to make banks more accountable, ensure women receive equal pay and provide for good jobs to get the American economy moving again. Most importantly, UFCW stewards were leaders in the effort to make affordable health care available to everyone—and we stuck to our ideals: everyone should have access, nobody should be denied because they’re sick and nobody should go bankrupt because they’re sick.
“We have achieved so much in the last two years,” said Local 227 Steward Estella Galarza. “By working together and standing up for change, we’ve made a real difference for the future of this country.”
Without a doubt, this is a tough time for Americans: a struggling economy, a negative political environment and corporate greed sapping our economy and destroying our middle class. The challenges facing us have gotten only larger and tougher and can’t be solved by a 30 second sound bite on cable news. We must find real solutions to make America work again, and we must continue to progress we have made in the last few years.
But since the day President Obama took office, Republicans have tried to block progress at every turn. Every advancement we made was over the howls of their protest as the sought to protect tax cuts and giveaways for the wealthy and massive corporations. Rather than offering a real alternative to the problems we face, Republicans became the “Party of No.”
So this election has become a critical one for UFCW members across the country and, as leaders in the UFCW, for the stewards as well. The choice is simple, do we want to continue progress and continue building a brighter and better future for America? Or do we want reward obstructionism and root for the failure of a government that works for working families?
“In my state, Kentucky, it’s a simple choice between Jack Conway and Rand Paul,” said Garza. “With Conway, we vote to continue to try and make things better in America and Kentucky. With Paul we vote not only to stop all progress, but actually destroy the gains we’ve made.”
This simple choice is playing out across the country and in every state as we approach fall and this critical election season. As stewards, as leaders in the UFCW we have a responsibility to get involved. If we care about building a better America, we need to talk to our neighbors, our family, and our co-workers. We need to knock on doors and make phone calls for the worker-friendly candidates our states who are ready to move our country forward. We’ve come too far to turn back now.