PEP, October 2005: Building PEOPLE power

With laws and agencies that benefit working people under intense attack by the Bush administration, the DC 37 Political Action Dept. is reorganizing the union’s PEOPLE program to build membership, improve participation and increase fundraising. DC 37’s national union, AFSCME, has called for at least a 10 percent increase in contributions.

“We are going to get more aggressive in our push for PEOPLE,” said DC 37 Political Director Wanda Williams. As part of the reorganization, Political Action Dept. staff will take responsibility for coordinating the union’s fundraising drives and tapping members to become PAL volunteer coordinators.

PAL staff will work with PEOPLE Chair Esther “Sandy” Tucker, the team of volunteer coordinators already in place, and locals’ Political Action Committees and PEOPLE coordinators to get more members involved and develop individualized PEOPLE plans. Locals will be asked to meet specific fundraising and membership recruitment goals, Williams said.

Increase numbers
Public Employees Organized to Promote Legislative Equality, PEOPLE, is the political action committee of DC 37’s national union, AFSCME. Voluntary PEOPLE contributions help elect candidates in state and federal elections, and help AFSCME lobby to protect Social Security, public employees’ jobs and hard-won benefits, to fight privatization and to address other issues important to labor and working families. PEOPLE supports politicians, regardless of party affiliation, who understand and side with public employees and stand up for workers’ rights.

“By involving local presidents and their boards, and DC 37 division directors and their staff, we will raise political awareness and boost involvement to improve our effectiveness and significantly increase our contributions,” Williams said. “We want to move PEOPLE forward and we can do that by decentralizing the program.”

The DC 37 PAL Dept. will strategize on ways to better promote PEOPLE and increase participation and contributions at a retreat after the November general elections.

— Diane S. Williams