August, 2012

As if working families weren’t struggling enough, The New York Times has revealed that now even voting is becoming difficult for workers.

Our Vote is Our Voice. We Must Protect It.

In Ohio, the Republican leaning suburbs will keep early voting locations open on evenings and weekends, but in largely Democratic cities like Cincinnati, early voting is being stopped at 5 p.m., and eliminated entirely on the weekends.

In Florida and Pennsylvania, strict voter ID laws have been passed to ensure “fair elections”.

There are two problems with that reasoning.

Number one, voter fraud isn’t common. Since 2000, studies have found about 1 instance of voter fraud for every 15 million eligible voters.

Number two, it’s easy to think that asking for a government ID isn’t such a burden, but don’t be fooled – it is. Relative to the general population, blacks, Hispanics, students, and senior citizens disproportionately lack proper identification and face structural barriers to obtaining one.

This Republican lead effort to ensure “fair elections” is nothing but a thinly veiled attempt to suppress minorities, students and elderly citizens from voting.

Trying to win an election is fine, but to do it by denying the basic right to vote to hundreds of thousands of people is despicable.

We need politicians who are committed to creating jobs and rewarding responsible workers who work hard and play by the rules. We deserve leaders who are genuinely concerned about giving a hand up to those who are struggling to find work and feed their families.

Unfortunately, legislatures in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, Iowa and other states where Republicans control key seats of power are choosing to spend their days preventing people from voting.

The politicians behind these efforts at disenfranchising large and clearly targeted groups of voters should be ashamed of themselves.

Go to the Facebook page for the Ohio Secretary of State. Tell them how inconsistent and unfair early voting laws disadvantage working families.

UPDATE:
Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted has made early voting hours uniform across all of Ohio. Unfortunately, there will be no early voting the weekend before the election.

In the 2008 Presidential election early voting was available the weekend before the election and it was very popular.

Secretary of State Husted’s Facebook page is currently accepting comments to see if people support having early voting open on the weekends. If you’re interested in taking 10 seconds to lodge your support, go to his Facebook page and simply say “I support extending early voting to the weekend before Election Day because those are the only days I have time to vote. I work during the week.”

Send this to all your friends and progressive co-workers in OH asap so that voting can be easy for everyone.

UFCW Local 1208 has been very busy this year! So far in 2012, Local 1208 has seen both tremendous progress in both the Smithfield Plant they represent, and in their local community of Tar Heel, North Carolina. This progress is due to the actions, member related and community outreach events, and the key role Local 1208 has taken in transforming the working environment for those living in Tarheel and its surrounding counties. Below, see a few of the things Local 1208 has been up to!

Defferred Action Event- St. Pauls, NC 
This event was coordinated by a group of local students. The forum included a PowerPoint presentation given by immigration lawyers, which discussed President Obama’s newest immigration reform.  The floor was opened for questions about the new reform, immigration, and deportation.  Many UFCW members attended, and Local 1208 had the chance to share its support of both immigrants and immigrant reform. Local 1208 is also currently working with attorneys across North Carolina to coordinate labs that will assist people with the application process as new reforms roll out.  Way to make everyone feel welcome!

Community Health Fairs- Fayetteville and Red Springs, NC
Local 1208 this year continued their tradition of participating in Community Health Fairs, which offer free information and services from local health care organization and the communities they serve. Local 1208 offered a range of information about work place safety, health laws (OSHA Q/A), and workers’ rights to a safe and healthy workplace.

Monthly Obama Sticker Contest- Tar Heel, NC
Each month, Local 1208 rewards it members for showing support for Obama by holding an Obama sticker contest.  The contest involves picking a car at random from the Smithfield Packing Plant (which they represent) parking lot that boasts a “UFCW for Obama” bumper sticker. Not only does each monthly winner receive a VISA gift card, but they also earn the right to have their picture proudly publicized throughout the plant during the corresponding weekly action, encouraging others to participate.  

Head over to the Local 1208 facebook page to see what else the Local is doing!
 

• Reforming the private health insurance marketplace
• Giving individuals a choice between purchasing health insurance and paying a penalty to offset their costs should they become sick
• Creating exchanges and providing financial assistance for individuals who could not otherwise afford insurance
• Relying on employer-sponsored insurance
• Expanding Medicaid to cover more low-income individuals

• fail to address the issues of affordability and access to care
• support  Medicare “premium support” and Medicaid block grants which will increase premiums for seniors and shred our nation’s health care safety net
• only allow children to stay on their parents’ plan for two years after they’re no longer claimed as a dependent or until they turn 26, whichever comes sooner
•  follow the premium support plan put forth by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI), which will limit the amount of the vouchers provided to beneficiaries, essentially costing new beneficiaries more than $1,200 more by 2030 and more than $5,900 more by 2050
• replace guaranteed federal funding with block grants to states, which would shift costs to states, which are already under enormous strain. According to the Congressional Budget Office, states would be forced to reduce eligibility, benefits, or payments to health care providers. More than 19 million Americans would lose coverage in 10 years
• allow private plans to “cherry pick” healthier seniors—driving up premiums for those who remain in traditional Medicare
• likely cut Medicaid by more than $1.4 trillion over 10 years