Nov. 2: What's at Stake: For Working Families, Help - and Hope - Are on the Way

The question is being posed a lot these days, on both sides of the battle for president of the United States: Are you better off today than you were four years ago?

Chances are, even with a good union contract, you're paying more for health care. You've held onto your job, but your raises haven't been lavish. Meanwhile, you have friends and family who are out of work or are clocking long hours at two low-wage jobs and still not making ends meet.

Maybe you live in one of the growing number of communities devastated by the shutdown of a manufacturing or textile plant now operating with cheaper labor in another country.

You got a modest tax cut from the federal government. But it was quickly swallowed up by the hike in your state and local taxes and the extra fees the school district imposed because its budget has no more wiggle room for sports, bands or field trips.

And even though you're paying more out of pocket, your community and schools are cutting vital programs because federal dollars have dried up. Perhaps your town is one that's even had to close firehouses and lay off police officers.

You're confident your union contract will protect your overtime, for now, but what happens at the next round of bargaining? And will others in your family fall victim to the rollback in overtime rights, forced to work longer hours for less money?

These are just some of the harsh realities that working families are facing today, less than four years after the end of a White House administration that balanced the federal budget, reduced the deficit, added 20 million private-sector jobs
and showed enormous respect for unions and working families.

Now poverty, unemployment and personal bankruptcies are up. America's middle class is shrinking while the rich get richer.

"It is inconceivable that there are many, if any, working families who could answer 'yes' to the question of whether they're better off now," CWA President Morton Bahr said. "Never in our lifetimes have we faced an administration so determined to assault workers' rights, benefits and paychecks while lavishing tax breaks on our wealthiest citizens and corporations.

"If we don't put a stop to these policies at the ballot box on Election Day, how many more Americans will have joined the ranks of the poor, jobless and vulnerable in another four years?" Bahr asked. "How many more hard-won workers' rights will be shattered? How many of us will have added our names to the 45 million Americans without health insurance today? This isn't a doomsday scenario. It's what we're going to face if we don't reclaim our country on Election Day."

Other Races Vital, Too
The race between Massachusetts Senator John Kerry and President George W. Bush will be key to what the next four years hold for working Americans. But the makeup of Congress is also critical.

In the U.S. Senate, it would take just two Democrats' victories to shift control back to the Democratic Party, which presently holds 49 of the 100 seats. In all, 34 states have Senate races on the ballots but only eight are considered to be in play - Alaska, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina and South Dakota.

As happens every two years, all 435 seats are up for grabs in the U.S. House, but only 42 are considered in play. Republicans presently have a 228-205 majority. One seat is held by an independent and one is vacant.

"These are vital races," Bahr said. "Electing John Kerry as president will give us a powerful advocate who will stand up for workers and working families, just as he's done for 20 years in the Senate. But we know all too well that if Republicans continue to control the Senate, House or both, their leaders will try to obstruct President Kerry's good intentions at every turn."

State races are also vital in shaping the state laws and policies that govern workers and unions, and help or hurt working families. Eleven of the 50 governors' seats are on the ballot, in Delaware, Indiana, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Washington and West Virginia. Currently, 28 governors are Republicans and 22 are Democrats.

Additionally, voters will decide 5,804 state legislative races in 44 states, nearly 80 percent of all state legislature seats in the country. Republicans control 21 legislatures and Democrats control 17, with 11 states split between the two parties. Only Nebraska's legislature is non-partisan.

Close state senate races include Oregon, where the Senate is tied 15-15 and 15 of the seats are up for grabs Nov. 2, as well as Colorado, Washington and Wisconsin, where Republicans have slim margins of control, and Maine and Tennessee, where Democrats are in charge by a handful of seats.

Union leaders say state legislatures have a particularly critical, and tough, role to play today as the skyrocketing federal deficit, unfunded federal mandates and tax cuts have combined to choke budgets for services. "If you want to take the economic temperature of the country, the first place to look is at the states," AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said.

A Voice for Workers
Both John Kerry and vice presidential nominee John Edwards have been strong and consistent advocates for workers and working families in the U.S. Senate. Over Kerry's 20-year career, he has a 97 percent record of voting with CWA on pro-working family issues and speaks passionately about them on the campaign trail.

"If you don't believe that this election is the most important in our lifetime, then all you have to do is look at the stories about the millions of middle-class families who are struggling to get ahead," Kerry said. "There are record bankruptcies, record foreclosure rates, and Americans owe more than $750 billion in credit card debt. And last year, because the cost of tuition has soared, 220,000 young people had to give up on their dream of a better future. These men and women built America. They worked hard. And in return, they're told by this administration, 'You're on your own'. Fundamental fairness is at stake in this election."

The Bush-Cheney campaign has tried to scare middle-class voters by claiming that Kerry would raise their taxes. It's simply not true. Kerry's plan calls for rolling back the Bush tax cuts - but only for the top 1 percent of taxpayers. Not only would middle-class families keep their tax cut, they would see new savings through reduced health care premiums and tax relief to offset college tuition.

With a detailed plan that includes tax incentives for companies that keep jobs in the United States and no more loopholes giving tax breaks to companies that send jobs overseas, Kerry aims to create at least 10 million new jobs.

"We know that the American economy won't work until we put the American people back to work - and not just in any jobs, but in good jobs that let you pay your bills and build your dreams," he said.

Kerry has laid out strong and detailed plans for America's national security, which include far more emphasis than the Bush administration has given to protect the country's ports, airports and borders. And he's determined to rebuild America's reputation around the world, while ensuring that the military gets everything it needs to win the war on terror and protect its men and women in uniform.

"I do not fault George Bush for doing too much in the war on terror. I believe he's done too little," Kerry said. "When the focus of the war on terror was appropriately in Afghanistan and on breaking al Qaeda, President Bush shifted his focus to Iraq and Saddam Hussein. He's pushed away our allies at a time when we need them most. He hasn't pursued a strategy to win the hearts and minds of people around the world and win the war of ideas against the radical ideology of Osama bin Laden. And time and again, George Bush has failed to give those fighting the war on terror - whether they're overseas or over here - the weapons, equipment, and support they need."

Get Out the Vote
It's hard to imagine a vote as close as the 2000 showdown for the White House, but analysts and polls suggest the Nov. 2 election will be another nail-biter.

Sixteen states are considered battlegrounds, potentially winding up in either the "blue" or "red" column: Arizona, Florida, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

CWA and its members have always been active in campaigns for pro-worker candidates, but are committing unprecedented levels of energy and resources to the 2004 election, joining with other unions, the AFL-CIO and Working America, the federation's new affiliate for all workers whether they're organized or not.

Coordinators hired by CWA have been sent to battleground states to work with the AFL-CIO and mobilize union members to register voters, knock on doors, make phone calls, distribute flyers and simply talk face-to-face with people about the critical choice they'll make Nov. 2.

"We've been building a grassroots political network that is our most ambitious ever," Bahr said. "We are doing everything in our power to elect a president who cares about working families."

In the Washington, D.C., area, for instance, CWA staff and local members have been volunteering on weekends for bus trips to talk to voters in Pennsylvania and North Carolina, two battleground states for the White House with other important races on the ballot as well.

An AFL-CIO campaign specialist who spoke to CWA's coordinators at a training session earlier this year said the 2000 election and Al Gore's popular vote victory illustrated how repeated contact with union families - via mail, e-mail, phone and personal visits - can make a substantial difference. In 2000, union households accounted for 26 percent of all voters, and the AFL-CIO says labor must match that in November.

Bahr said he knows everyone's heard it before: "This is the most important election of our lifetime." But this year he said it's truer than ever.

"George Bush, by any measurement, has failed America's working families and retirees," he said at the CWA convention. "It is clearly the time for Mr. Bush and his congressional majority to be laid off and outsourced. It's time for a regime change in America. But in our country we accomplish regime change at the ballot box. Let's do it November 2nd."