ATU Action Weekly Update - 10/29/07 

• Labor Political Program Works in KY
• VA Unions Get Out the Vote
• WI Transit Labor and Management Lobby Together in DC
• SCHIP Passes the House Again

Labor Political Program Works in Kentucky

With election day just over a week away, Kentucky's working men and women are hard at work trying to elect Steve Beshear as the next Governor.  Union volunteers have distributed more than 350,000 leaflets to their fellow union members.  Never before in Kentucky has the labor movement moved so many fliers in every part of the State -- from Paducah to Pikeville -- and with such a great intensity.

And, according to the AFL-CIO's recent tracking poll, its working.  Seventy percent of union members in Kentucky say they support Steve Beshear!  Only 16 percent support his opponent, sitting Governor Ernie Fletcher.

Virginia Unions Get Out the Vote

Like their fellow Brothers and Sisters in Kentucky, Virginia's working families are also mobilizing to elect a worker-friendly majority to their state legislature. 

With just a week to go, union volunteers, including ATU members in Northern Virginia and Norfolk, have been phone banking and knocking on the doors of union households to encourage other members to vote for the union endorsed candidate.

For updates on the Virginia AFL-CIO effort, including videos of union members and their families volunteering, go to: http://blog.aflcio.org/2007/10/23/dont-forget-the-family-in-working-families.

WI Transit Labor and Management Lobby Together in DC

Dale Anderson, Chair of the ATU Wisconsin State Legislative Conference Board, joined several representatives from Wisconsin transit systems in Washington, D.C. this week.  The Wisconsin delegation will be meeting with their U.S. Reps. and Senators to discuss the need for increased federal transit funding in Wisconsin.

While they may sometimes disagree about grievances and during contract negotations, the Wisconsin transit industry and its ATU locals are able to maintain an exemplary relationship when it comes to lobbying for transit.  In addition to their fall trip to Washington, D.C., the two groups work together throughout the year to lobby the Wisconsin state government, and come together every March, during the ATU's annual Legislative Conference, to once again take their issues before their federal representatives.

SCHIP Passes the House Again

Last Thursday, the U.S. House voted 265-142 to pass H.R. 3963, a revised version of H.R. 976, the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) Reauthorization. 

After President Bush vetoed the originial bill, and the House tried to override his veto, but fell just a few votes short of the two-thirds majority needed to override his veto.  The President has similarly promised to veto the revised bill, and unfortunately, last week's vote also fell short of the votes needed to override the threatened veto. 

The revised bill contains provisions that are designed to ensure that 1) the focus would be on enrolling low-income children in SCHIP first; 2) SCHIP would not cover illegal immigrants; 3) SCHIP coverage of adults would be phased out faster; and 4) children leaving private insurance for SCHIP would be minimized.  A Senate vote on the new bill could take place as early as next week.