AFL-CIO Launches Interactive Website to Engage Union Families in Presidential Endorsement Process

For Immediate Release
Contact: Steve Smith 202-412-4440

"Working Families Vote 2008"
AFL-CIO Launches Interactive Website to Engage Union Families in  Presidential Endorsement Process
http://www.workingfamiliesvote08.org/

(Washington, May 3) - The AFL-CIO has launched an interactive Website  designed to give union working families the tools they need to be more  involved than ever in selecting the next President of the United States. The  website (http://www.workingfamiliesvote08.org/), a key component of the AFL-CIO's  "Working Families Vote 2008" campaign, is part of the broadest effort yet to involve union members and their families in the AFL-CIO presidential  endorsement process, aiming for record union voter turnout in 2008.

"Working families have a new and important tool to deeply engage in the  process to elect our next President," AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said.  "With the launch of the Working Families Vote 2008 website, working people  now have reams of information about the candidates and issues right at their fingertips."

The new website examines presidential candidates' positions on key working  family issues including the freedom to form or join unions, health care,  trade policy, retirement security, good jobs and education. It also features  links to candidate videos, polls, blog roundups and other information to  help prepare working families for the 2008 elections.

The site includes a forum for discussion of key issues in the presidential  race. The current thread-opening question asks, "What issues will get you to the polls in November 2008?" The site, which launched Friday, also features  an Action Center that allows users to let presidential candidates know where  they stand on the issues.

The website will serve as a clearinghouse for information on AFL-CIO  activities involving the presidential campaign, including the AFL-CIO's "Working Families Vote 2008" town hall series, which got underway Sunday. In  the coming weeks, candidates for president will meet with union members and  their families in cities across the country to discuss the issues that  matter most to working families. The next town meeting will be with Sen. Barack Obama in Trenton, NJ on May 14. The town hall series will  culminate with a multi-candidate forum in August in Chicago.

"Whether working families are engaging online or in-person, its clear that the level of enthusiasm in this campaign is unparalleled,"" Sweeney said.  There's absolutely no question union members and their families are going  to play a central role in determining who our next President is going to  be."

The website and town halls are part of an intensive program to engage union members and their families in the AFL-CIO's presidential endorsement decision-making process. The Executive Council of the AFL-CIO voted in March to ask each of its 54 national unions to make no endorsement until the AFL- CIO General Board decides whether or not to endorse a candidate prior to the  primaries.

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