If We Don’t Fight for Ourselves, Who Will?

JOURNAL: ISSUE 4 - 2015

With the actions of the delegates to the 2015 BAC Convention still fresh in our minds (please note, you’ll find a summary of those actions beginning on page 3), out of the 50 resolutions adopted, there is one area in particular I want to highlight given its timeliness and bearing not only on our immediate future but on BAC’s long-term survival.

Just as a free and effective trade union movement is an essential force for democracy here in North America, so too is the solemn social obligation for U.S. and Canadian citizens to register and participate in each and every election.

We realize voter turnout in mid-term elections in the U.S. is historically low, but in 2014, to put it bluntly, BAC and union members in general were asleep at the switch. And we’re paying the price.

Compounding the low turnout was the dwindling number of BAC members who are registered to vote.

Convention delegates have made it clear that all this needs to change and change quickly.

We recognize there are a dizzying array of work and family demands competing for your time and attention. But know that on any given day, there is an army of well-financed, anti-union, right-wing business interests that have banded together, hell bent on dismantling workers’ rights and union democracy, lowering the wages across all sectors, and wiping out restrictions on exploitative employers. They attach themselves to conservative candidates who demonize union leaders as ‘thugs’ and union members as ‘sheep’, who fabricate the need for so-called right-to work laws, and who seek to crush prevailing wage laws and prohibit Project Labor Agreements.

I ask you: if we don’t vote to protect our rights and stand up to these assaults on decent wages, who will?

Clearly, there is no magic wand to suddenly vanquish Congressional gridlock (if there were, the Koch brothers would have bought it) or rouse a tepid White House. But candidates and elected officials at all levels, especially at the state level where many of these battles are taking place, now have access to the same voter metrics unions do. If they sense an unwillingness by BAC members to fight for basic bread and butter issues for ourselves and our families, can we really expect them to do the same?

That is why the Executive Board, in response to the adoption of Resolutions 7, 8 and 19, will be working with Local and ADC leaders to launch the most ambitious voter registration campaign ever to encourage and facilitate voter registration among U.S. members and to get-out-the-BAC-vote in upcoming primaries, caucuses and in the General Election on November 8, 2016. If you have questions about how or when to register for caucus or primary election dates, please contact your Local or ADC or go to www.bacweb.org and click on the “Vote 2016” banner.

Many thanks for your cooperation and help in this critical effort, and for your steadfast support and loyalty throughout 2015. In closing, the Executive Board joins me in wishing you and yours a very happy and healthy New Year.