UE Political Action Updates

UE leaders have been taking UE’s message that the Green New Deal must include action for good, union jobs to Green New Deal meetings. On May 4, UE General President Peter Knowlton spoke at a town hall meeting in Philadelphia organized by the Sunrise Movement, a youth-led movement to stop climate change and create millions of good jobs in the process. In Erie, PA Local 506 Vice President/Recording Secretary Tom Bobrowicz was a featured speaker at a May 6 town hall meeting on “The Road to the Green New Deal.”

Since the 2018 midterm elections, the “Green New Deal” — a comprehensive approach to addressing climate change that would create millions of new jobs — has gained both visibility and popularity, as well as a certain amount of controversy.

On Wednesday, April 10th, longtime UE ally Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced the Medicare for All Act of 2019. The bill complements the Medicare for All Act of 2019 introduced by Representative Pramila Jayapal in the House of Representatives in February. “The American people want, and we are going to deliver, a Medicare for All, single-payer system,” said Sanders, echoing long-held UE policy.

The U.S. has no legitimate claim to intervene in the internal affairs of other countries, to take sides in internal political disputes, or to undermine governments elected by the people.  We have seen the disastrous consequences of recent U.S. interventions in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and, through its alliance with Saudi Arabia, in Yemen. U.S. intervention in Venezuela can only bring further hardship and suffering, as followed U.S. support for the 2009 coup in Honduras that overthrew the elected government there and contributed to the stream of asylum-seekers now on our southern border seeking relief from that disaster.