PEF sending first heroes into national political fray

By SHERRY HALBROOK
A stout-hearted group of PEF activists headed for Baltimore in late March for intensive training on how to be “heroes.” PEF political-action heroes, that is.

In Baltimore, they will join other union activists for advanced training by the Service Employees International Union in how to run local political campaigns aimed at defeating the Bush administration in its bid for a second term. 

The PEF volunteers include members, retirees and, in some cases, their spouses or other family members.

Graduates of the three-day boot camp, will spread out over the country to begin recruiting more volunteers, organizing voter-registration drives and public-information campaigns to educate voters about the important issues in this presidential campaign, such as jobs, health care, security, education and the environment.

“This is our first group of recruits to be deployed in this national campaign,” said PEF Vice President Ken Brynien, who heads the union’s political action efforts. “It appears they will be assigned to work in Maine, New Hampshire or Michigan. We’ll be sending out another, much larger group of heroes for training and deployment in about three months.”

Full-time gig
As the first group to be deployed, the current recruits will work full-time for seven months — from April until the November 2 general election. They are being assigned to work in “battleground” states that might tip either way in November.

According to PEF legislative assistant Matt Watson, PEF has received applications from approximately 160 people (members, retirees and their families) eager to work on this national campaign. 

“About a third of them definitely want to be full-time campaign heroes,” Watson said. “Another third have volunteered to be weekend ‘warriors,’ and the rest want to work as full-time heroes if they can arrange to be away for that long. If not, they will join the ranks of the warriors.”
You can volunteer by calling the PEF legislative office at 1-800-724-4997, or by e-mailing Watson at mwatson@pef.org. You may also download, complete and submit the pre-application form from the PEF Web site at www.pef.org.

Issues too critical to ignore
“It’s important for all of our members to do whatever they can to support this campaign, because we have so much at stake,” Brynien said. “President Bush’s policies, both foreign and domestic, have driven our prosperous, thriving economy and national budget surplus that he inherited from the Clinton administration deep into the red. 

“From weakened enforcement of federal labor laws and occupational safety and health standards to basic job security, working Americans are suffering, and so are their families. None of us can afford another four years of this.”

“One thing we can all do, is financially support PEF’s role in this campaign,” Brynien said. “Federal law does not allow labor unions to use their members’ dues to pay for national political campaigns or donations to candidates for national political office. PEF must depend on the voluntary contributions its members make to the Committee on Political Education (COPE) for that.” 

In this case, only PEF members can contribute. Checks should be payable to SEIU COPE and sent to the PEF Legislative Department, 100 State St., Suite 1070, Albany, NY 12207-1811.
Editor’s note: Whether to contribute and how much is up to individual members. The union is prohibited by law from discriminatory treatment of members based on their participation in COPE or lack of it.

This message was paid for by the PEF Committee for Political Education (COPE) and was not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee. You may reach PEF COPE at PO Box 12414, Albany, NY 12212-2414.

Communicator Homepage April 04

Inside This Issue
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Rally activists speak their minds
PEF weighing its options
Keep Fulton Corrections open
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PEF helps elect Fields to office
Changing the world, one cow at a time

Departments
President's Message
Member's Mailbag
Nurses' Station
Retirees In Action
Members' Highlights
Back Cover Ad
PEF Membership Benefits &Travel

Union Matters
Union halts layoffs at OCF
Judge backs nurses right to back pay
Member keeps lifesaving blood flowing
Deadline nears for OT meal allowance
PEF sending first heroes into national...
Labor community helps state workers
Grant walks the walk
Reg. 1 member running to retire
Candidates sought for E. Board
Join PEF Hispanic Committee at Somos
2004 Convention Delegate Info

Save these dates:
April 21-25
Somos El Futuro!
The annual weekend conference in Albany of the Caucus of NYS Hispanic and Puerto Rican Legislators
For more information, to volunteer, or make reservations for the reception, call Helen Brooks at the PEF Legislative Office, 1-800-724-4997.

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