WASHINGTON - August 26 - As President Bush addresses the Republican National Convention on Thursday, September 2, 10,000 union members will go door-to-door to talk with a million union households about the jobs crisis, the need for affordable healthcare and a secure retirement - - and where the candidates stand on these issues. It will be the largest single-day election mobilization in the union movement’s history.

From Davenport, Iowa and St. Louis, Missouri to the coast of Maine and the mountains of the Northwest, nurses, cooks, steelworkers, teachers, office workers and others will fan out to conduct voter education with union members as part of the AFL-CIO’s Labor ’04 program. This year, political volunteerism is at an all-time high in the movement because workers are concerned about the direction of the nation under President Bush, especially jobs leaving the country and the family budget-busting, rising cost of health care.

“Despite the rosy rhetoric of the Republicans, the prolonged jobs crisis tears at the fabric of America’s middle class,” said John Sweeney, President of the AFL-CIO. “Never before have working people been so energized about an election. We’ve been overwhelmed by the number of volunteers who want to be out in their neighborhoods, talking to fellow union members while President Bush accepts his party’s nomination.”

So far, thousands of union members have signed up for the September 2 walks in nearly 200 communities in 16 states. The walks will generally take place in the evening, and will last four to six hours. Walkers will be given a group orientation session and will then be assigned detailed maps which show exactly where to find union members’ houses on each street in their assigned areas. They will walk in pairs, and some members will bring their children.

The union members are volunteering their time with the AFL-CIO program through their local union and their local labor movement. Some members have signed up online through the AFL-CIO’s online political system, where members can also download leaflets to pass out at work.

Union household members are expected to represent one out of four voters in November, as they did in the 2000 Presidential elections.

The September 2 walks are part of the AFL-CIO’s continuing outreach program to inform and mobilize America’s working families around issues central to their lives and future for the 2004 election. The AFL-CIO is the umbrella organization for America’s unions and represents 13 million working men and women.

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