Public Employee Press

Political Action 2010
Mobilizing against cuts:
Funding to save jobs

“When times are hard, PEOPLE contributions go a long way toward protecting public services and our jobs,” says DC 37 PEOPLE Chair Jackie Rowe-Adams.

PEOPLE dollars fight to fund public services, prevent privatization, win health-care reform and elect candidates — regardless of their party — who support working families.

PEOPLE is Public Employees Organized to Promote Legislative Equality, the grassroots political fundraising arm of DC 37’s national union, the American Federation
of State, County and Municipal Employees.

To support President Obama’s worker-friendly program, win the 2010 elections and retain congressional majorities will take a huge union effort, said Rowe-Adams, who is also president of Local 299.

In response, AFSCME has expanded the PEOPLE program, and Rowe-Adams has been leading DC 37’s drive to sign up members and local leaders as VIP MVPs, who contribute $8 a pay period through payroll deductions, or about $200 a year.

In PEOPLE’s new VIP MVP program, members get points toward incentives by recruiting co-workers, friends and family to join as VIP MVPs. Members can access their account information through the Internet at www.peoplerewards.afscme.org and use their points for incentives such as clothing, sporting goods and more.

Business was already outspending unions in politics by about nine-to-one, when a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision favored corporations further by letting them spend freely on political campaigns.

“We have to fight back even harder, and PEOPLE gives us the power to do that,” said Rowe-Adams. “As public- sector workers, we depend on elected officials who make policies and budgets that affect the vital services we provide. Becoming a PEOPLE VIP MVP is an investment in yourself, your community and your union.”