Veterans who belong to several different unions gathered at the state Capitol Thursday for the launch.
"Like all working people, veterans are worried about our future and our children\'s future. Our country is headed in the wrong direction," said Minnesota AFL-CIO President Ray Waldron, who participated in Thursday\'s event. "The first-ever union veterans council will bring union veterans together across Minnesota on the issues that matter most to veterans, our families and all working people. And we\'re starting by working to elect leaders who will put working people\'s concerns first."
Some 2.1 million union members are veterans, according to the national AFL-CIO. The launch of the Union Veterans Council will help them mobilize for the 2008 elections and fight for the health and education benefits they deserve, the federation said.
Events to launch the council were held Thursday in St. Paul, Milwaukee, Denver, Dayton, Ohio; and Charleston, W. Va.
The Union Veterans Council also launched a website, www.unionveterans.org, and a TV ad campaign featuring Jim Wasser, a Vietnam-era veteran and retired Electrical Workers member. In the ad, Wasser speaks about Republican presidential candidate John McCain\'s record on the economy.
"Every vet respects John McCain\'s war record," Wasser says in the ad. "It\'s his record in the Senate I have a problem with."
The ad will air in selected communities around the country, including Rochester, Minn.
In addition to the ad and the website, the Union Veterans Council will:
• Dispatch union veterans to go door-to-door and to worksites to talk to union members about key issues;
• Launch a first-ever online campaign to union veterans;
• Form state councils of union veterans and bring together top union leaders who are veterans to strategize and mobilize veterans at all levels of the union movement;
• Identify and track union veterans for the first time.
This article contains information from the Minnesota AFL-CIO and the national AFL-CIO news site, http://blog.aflcio.org
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Veterans who belong to several different unions gathered at the state Capitol Thursday for the launch.
"Like all working people, veterans are worried about our future and our children\’s future. Our country is headed in the wrong direction," said Minnesota AFL-CIO President Ray Waldron, who participated in Thursday\’s event. "The first-ever union veterans council will bring union veterans together across Minnesota on the issues that matter most to veterans, our families and all working people. And we\’re starting by working to elect leaders who will put working people\’s concerns first."
Some 2.1 million union members are veterans, according to the national AFL-CIO. The launch of the Union Veterans Council will help them mobilize for the 2008 elections and fight for the health and education benefits they deserve, the federation said.
Events to launch the council were held Thursday in St. Paul, Milwaukee, Denver, Dayton, Ohio; and Charleston, W. Va.
The Union Veterans Council also launched a website, www.unionveterans.org, and a TV ad campaign featuring Jim Wasser, a Vietnam-era veteran and retired Electrical Workers member. In the ad, Wasser speaks about Republican presidential candidate John McCain\’s record on the economy.
"Every vet respects John McCain\’s war record," Wasser says in the ad. "It\’s his record in the Senate I have a problem with."
The ad will air in selected communities around the country, including Rochester, Minn.
In addition to the ad and the website, the Union Veterans Council will:
• Dispatch union veterans to go door-to-door and to worksites to talk to union members about key issues;
• Launch a first-ever online campaign to union veterans;
• Form state councils of union veterans and bring together top union leaders who are veterans to strategize and mobilize veterans at all levels of the union movement;
• Identify and track union veterans for the first time.
This article contains information from the Minnesota AFL-CIO and the national AFL-CIO news site, http://blog.aflcio.org