For Immediate Release
Contact: Lane Windham, Sarah Massey, Suzanne Ffolkes    (202) 637-5018
Largest Nationwide Union Movement Mobilization Ever*

Door-to-Door on Good Jobs, Health Care
Thousands of Rank-and-File Members Expected for Neighborhood Walks in June

(Washington, June 7) - IN WHAT WILL BE the largest and earliest
mobilization of working Americans in multiple states in history, thousands 
of union members are expected to walk to tens of thousands of doors in 16 
states in June to talk to fellow union members about the issues of good 
jobs and affordable, quality health care in the 2004 election.
         As part of the AFL-CIO's Labor '04 program, the union volunteers 
will knock on doors, and talk to members of unions and their families about 
where the presidential candidates stand on jobs and health care.  They will
pass out literature which reads "Good Jobs and Affordable Health Care: 
Who's Fighting for Working Families?" and which lays out the specific 
positions of Senator John Kerry and President George Bush on these issues.
         "Working people are fed up with seeing good jobs sent overseas and 
facing soaring health care costs.  Never before have working people been so 
energized so early about an election," said AFL-CIO President John 
Sweeney.  "We've been overwhelmed by union members who are eager to 
volunteer to help bring about a change in our nation's leadership."
         So far, thousands of union members have signed up for more than a 
hundred walks in 72 cities.  They include teachers, plumbers, hotel 
workers, fire fighters, painters, phone operators, garment workers, 
engineers, nurses and workers from a broad range of other professions.
The walks will generally take place on a weekend day, and will last four to 
six hours.  Walkers will be given a group orientation session and will then 
be assigned detailed maps which show exactly where to find union members' 
houses on each street in their assigned area.  They will walk in 
pairs.  Some members may bring their children.
         The union members are volunteering their time with the AFL-CIO 
program through their local union and their local labor movement.  Some
members have signed up online through the AFL-CIO's new online political 
system.  In addition, union members can print out leaflets from the AFL-CIO 
website for distribution in their workplaces.
         Union household members are expected to represent one out of four 
voters in November, as they did in the 2000 presidential election.
         The June walks are part of the AFL-CIO's continuing outreach 
program to inform and mobilize America's working families around issues 
central to their lives and future in the 2004 election.  The AFL-CIO is the 
umbrella organization for America's unions and represents 13 million 
working men and women.

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Marilyn G. Sneiderman
Director
Field Mobilization Department, AFL-CIO
815 16th Street, NW
Washington, DC  20006
202-637-5356
202637-5012 (Fax)
msneider@aflcio.org