Members have asked questions about last Thursday’s volunteer election phoning and I want to answer.

On Thursday, about 10 executives, stewards and others gathered to call members to talk about the candidates the Executive has endorsed and to encourage people to get out and vote. The response was great and most people were glad to hear from the Union on this.

It’s an opportunity for the Union to influence the make up of City Council, to bring on people who will protect our jobs and build great city services. It’s part of what Unions do. We are supported in this effort by both the National level of our Union and the International and ATU 569 receives high accolades for getting out our vote.

So, if you get a call from a Union member volunteering to spend time reaching out, remember, we’re doing it to protect our jobs and those of our co-workers. We’re doing it to help us finally get to a great new contract. We’re doing it to make sure regionalization doesn’t undermine our jobs and our families’ security. We’re doing it because that what we were elected to do.