Posted on October 31, 2006

Every day, politicians make decisions that affect our jobs, our families, our lives. And that means workers need to take action that will influence their choices.

Just ask Luisa Sanchez, a janitor in Hartford, in remission from breast cancer.

Backed by elected leaders who supported good jobs for the city, she united with her co-workers, bargained with her employer, and won health care insurance that covered her medicine and life-saving treatments.

Luisa told me she is volunteering her time along with thousands of other union members to elect candidates who will stand up for workers. Candidates who have pledged to take action so that hard work will once again be valued and rewarded. Candidates who believe all working people should have the opportunity to unite their strength in a union - the best pathway to America's middle class.

She's thinking of workers like Ercilia Sandoval, a janitor in faraway Houston, who is currently battling breast cancer.

Ercilia formed a union last year with 5,300 other cleaners, but still earns $5.25 an hour without benefits because the contractors - the same national employers that operate in Hartford - are refusing to negotiate a living wage and affordable health insurance. The janitors are now on strike, and members of Congress, the state legislature and the city council have joined the picket line to put pressure on the companies to act responsibly.

Luisa reminds candidates that she and Ercilia share similar concerns, though thousands of miles apart: They work for the same wealthy landlords who hire the same contractors. Houston, Hartford, what's the difference? Both women need a paycheck that supports a family; they dream that their kids will have a better future than they did. And they both need affordable health care to survive.

Their stories ring true across communities, state lines, across industries, and now, across the globe.

Working people are counting on their elected representatives to help restore an American Dream that has slipped away for many of us -- often because of politicians who favor the interests of big business and other brokers of power over that of ordinary Americans who go to work each day.

That's what happened in Rhode Island. This weekend I spent time with child care providers who joined together to professionalize their industry. They sought to form a union like 49,000 workers in Illinois, to win improvements like training and rate increases that would go a long way to helping the kids in their care. But Governor Carcieri, no friend of working families, vetoed important legislation supported by parents and other advocates throughout the state.

Did these caregivers go away? Of course not! Politicians need to be reminded that they work for us. So together these women are making phone calls and knocking on doors to support challenger Charlie Fogarty and other new lawmakers who will fight for Rhode Island's families.

It's so inspiring to see workers literally take matters into their own hands. My next stop was New Hampshire, where I met a dozen candidates for the state House of Representatives - both Republican and Democrat - who were rank-and-file members of my union, SEIU. Another seven individuals from SEIU households are also running for office to ensure health care and retirement security remain priorities in the Granite State.

This weekend one thing was for certain: Union members are not sitting on the sidelines, waiting for change to happen, treating elections like a spectator sport. Everywhere I go, I see the courage of working people like Ercilia and Luisa who are united, taking action, and reminding politicians who put them in office, and who can take them out... so check back tomorrow and I'll let you know what members from the Change to Win unions in Pennsylvania have in store for Rick Santorum!