UE Political Action Updates
Early Voting: Making Election Participation Easier
Early voting is voting before Election Day, generally in person at election offices and in some states, other public locations. It differs from absentee balloting, which is almost always a mail-in ballot. Early voting is a helpful tool for increasing voter participation, especially for busy working people.
Urgent: Voter Registration Deadlines and Information
You can't vote if you are not registered to vote, and in almost every state you must register well ahead of the election. This year Election Day is Tuesday, November 6, and some states will still hold primary elections before then, so you need to know if that affects the timing of your registration.
How the Affordable Care Act Affects Collective Bargaining
UE locals bargaining for their members' healthcare will get little help from the Affordable Care Act passed by Congress and signed by the president in 2010, and upheld by the Supreme Court on June 28, 2012. While millions of uninsured gain access to coverage, and for the first time the U.S. government will prohibit health insurance companies to deny coverage because of pre-existing conditions, there are harmful aspects to the new law. Much as NAFTA legitimized cross-border corporate exploitation of workers, ACA confirms the domination of healthcare in the U.S.
Healthcare: What the Affordable Care Act Does and Doesn't Do
The War on Women is Real
Bernie Sanders Blasts "Fiscal Summit" Aimed at Attacking Social Security
Senator Sanders blasts the Pete Peterson "fiscal summit" and continuing efforts to destroy Social Security. |
Taxing Thoughts: How the Tax System Became So Unfair
No one likes to pay taxes. Even if you don't begrudge the government taking part of your paycheck, tax season is a stressful time, as many of us worry that we'll do a calculation wrong or get an audit letter from the IRS.
Taxes aren't a force of nature. Who gets taxed, and how much, is the result of laws that are the product of political struggles over the past century. There is plenty that is wrong with the U.S. tax system. To understand how we ended up where we are, it helps to look at the history of taxation in the U.S.
UE's Chris Townsend Debates Republican Over Attacks on Unions
On February 18, UE's Political Action Director Chris Townsend appeared on the program "Inside Story" on the global TV news network Al Jazeera. The topic of the 25-minute program was "Attacking Unions." The host asked whether Mitt Romney was politically smart to be attacking unions in the campaign for the Michigan Republican presidential primary, but the focus quickly broadened to a discussion of unions and their role in American politics. The other two guests were Jason Johnson, a political science professor, and "Republican strategist" J.P. Freire.
How Much Have Republican Attacks Cost Wisconsin? Report Surveys the Damage
The radical attacks on unions launched a year ago by Wisconsin's Republican Governor Scott Walker, at the direction of his corporate sponsors, have come at a high cost to working people. An important report issued by the Wisconsin AFL-CIO surveys the damage. It's titled "Losses to Working Families Under Governor Walker," and you can download the report here.