New York State AFL-CIO Unleashes Massive Educational Campaign Citing State Senators Blatant Anti-Worker Agenda

ALBANY, NY (05/10/2010)(readMedia)-- Today, the 2 ½ million member New York State AFL-CIO unleashed a massive educational campaign, the organization's first in-session initiative of its kind, targeting State Senators who have betrayed the trust, interests and well-being of working men and women. The targeted Senators were Jeff Klein (34th SD) and Craig Johnson (7th SD).

The State Labor Federation coordinated a "Day of Action" leafleting campaign at train stations and various in-district sites to put individual State Senators, as well as the entire Senate on notice that their anti-labor, anti-working person agenda will no longer be tolerated. Today's action was the initial phase of the New York State AFL-CIO's campaign. Additional Senators across the state will be targeted in the coming days and weeks.

New York State AFL-CIO President Denis Hughes stated, "We simply feel that enough is enough. The actions of these two Senators are symptomatic of what seems to be a fundamental change in philosophy in that chamber when it comes to protecting the overall well-being of New York's working people. The actions of the Senators we are targeting today have been particularly egregious because they have time and again portrayed themselves as friends and champions of the cause of working men and women. Nothing could be further from the truth.

"Senators Klein and Johnson have consistently betrayed the same individuals they claim to care so much about. They have shown a blatant disregard for the concerns of all working people. Whether it's been attacking public employee pensions, refusing to help New York's unemployed workers, or failing to stand up to the Governor when he shut down hundreds of construction jobs, there is a long line of broken promises and actions in the Senate that have targeted the labor movement. As a result, they have left many important labor priorities disregarded or floundering.

"It is still my sincere hope and goal to improve our relationship with the Senate leadership and to advance the many important interests of the labor movement in doing so. However, after more than one and a half years the situation has gotten worse, not better, and it is time for us to take action rather than continue to imagine excuses" said Hughes.

Thousands of flyers were distributed by hundreds of union members in each of the Senators districts. Each flyer explained issues the Senators failed to deliver on, as well as actions taken that have hurt the cause of working men and women.

Issues mentioned in the flyer included the Senators failure to: Stand up to the Governor when he shut down hundreds of construction jobs; Stand up to the Governor when he violated public employees contracts; Reform our broken economic development system; Enact a farm workers bill of rights; Increase the state's unemployment benefit.

Citing stances the Senators have taken detrimental to the cause of working people, the flyers highlight: Protecting a failed tax system that favors the privileged at the expense of working people; increasing the tax on health insurance; siding with big corporations and against teachers and students to pass a Charter School Bill- with no real reform; creating a new Tier V pension; and attacking education by supporting an irresponsible property tax cap.

In addition to leafleting, the next phase of the New York State AFL-CIO's campaign will also include phone calls to union members in the districts of targeted Senators.