The union movement’s election outreach and mobilization—which ends with a massive “Final Four” GOTV drive—has made “the working class rejection of the Bush-Romney-Ryan economic agenda the defining issue of this election,” says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.

Overwhelmingly core economic issues, like protecting Medicare, ending tax cuts for the rich, creating good jobs and rejecting the failed economic policies of the past, are driving working-class voters to Barack Obama and away from Republican economics and wedge issues—as long as people have the information on both candidates’ real records.

Read more about working families' "Final Four" GOTV push. 

A recurring theme in the media’s horse race coverage of the presidential election is a so-called diminished enthusiasm among voters who backed President Obama in 2008 and a corresponding burst of excitement on the right for Mitt Romney.

Don’t tell that to Working America’s Peter Drummond, who along with hundreds of other Working America members in Wisconsin, is talking to working family voters every night. He tells the American Prospect:

By now you may be ready for this election to be over, but this is the home stretch. The stakes couldn’t be higher.

From the presidential race on down the ticket, race after race is a dead heat.

One thing will make the difference—you.

The latest polls show a close race between President Obama and Mitt Romney. But working family voters—union and nonunion—who have been contacted by the labor movement’s voter outreach program, overwhelmingly believe that President Obama is far more in tune with their needs and is vastly more trusted to handle the economy and social issues, such as Social Security and Medicare, according to a new poll. Said AFL-CIO Political Director Mike Podhorzer:

The simple fact is that they believe President Obama is on their side and Mitt Romney isn’t. They believe President Obama favors a policy that is going to rebuild the middle class and Mitt Romney is favoring the same old policies that got us into the horrible economic calamity.

This is an excerpt from the Huffington Post, "A Doorstep Focus Group Every Night," by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. 

Every day while the right-wing SuperPACs pour millions of dollars into attack ads, canvassers for Working America, the AFL-CIO’s community affiliate, knock on nearly 25,000 doors and talk to more than 10,000  actual voters in town after town and state after state.

Each conversation is a little bit different, but together they amount to something like a series of giant nightly focus groups with people who are as “real” as you can get.

Voters care most about big issues like taxes and jobs and education. People want the richest Americans to pay reasonable taxes so our country can create good jobs in construction, transportation and more, and so we can hire police, firefighters, teachers and other public workers for our communities.

The AFL-CIO is calling on women from all over to ask other women—other moms, daughters, sisters, co-workers and friends—to vote in this election. 
Can you host a Women Vote 2012 Party in your neighborhood?

Working America and the AFL-CIO have made it easy to host a party, by providing a step-by-step guide that tells you what to expect and how to make your party successful. Working America has been hosting parties like this for the past five years, and they make a difference. Women who hear about how important it is to vote from other women actually vote at higher rates. 

"My Own Political Opinion" is a cross-post from Working America’s Dear David workplace advice column.

Question:

As a courtesy, I communicated to the director of the company where I work that I will be volunteering for one of the candidates running for president. I was told that I was not allowed to participate in any kind of political activity as long as I worked for the company. I asked why, fairly offended. He said that due to the fact that most of his clientele support the other candidate, he would risk losing up to 90% of his clientele. Not only am I not allowed to express my opinion or represent what I believe in as a proud American, but I also cannot even put a bumper sticker on my car, as I would risk immediate termination. What are your thoughts on these subjects? —Raven, N.H.

Answer:

"10 Reasons Not to See 'Won't Back Down'" is a cross-post from Working America's Main Street blog. 

The Walden Media film "Won’t Back Down," starring Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis, opens in theaters today. The film dramatizes a parent fighting to improve her child’s school, but it’s actually a dishonest Hollywood portrayal of the problems in our educational system—funded by the very people who want to privatize and profit from our schools. Here are 10 reasons to skip it:

The first union for secretaries, 9to5, found a way to turn National Secretary's Day on its head in 1973, with the slogan "Raises, Not Roses," during a day of protest.

"We were about business, we were serious workers and you couldn't buy us off anymore," says Karen Nussbaum, one of the founders of 9to5, in an interview with PBS MAKERS, a series covering women who lead and trailblaze.

Nussbaum is now the executive director of Working America, a community affiliate of the AFL-CIO.

Watch the first of Nussbaum's interviews below:

"Working America Organizers Turn Into Neighborhood Heroes," by Seth D. Michaels, is a cross-post from Working America's Main Street blog. 

Michael Taeu, a Working America organizer, was out talking to people in Oregon City, Ore., last night when he saw something he doesn't usually see: smoke pouring out of the windows of one of the houses in the neighborhood.

Michael could have turned around, but he didn't. Instead, he went into the house, helped rescue a woman trapped inside and put out the fire.