Getting Things Done & Protecting Your Rights!
PEOPLE works for you to…
- Secure more federal funds for our state, local governments and school districts;
- Maintain laws that provide unpaid leave time to care for a sick parent, child, or spouse;
- Maintain laws that protect your working conditions;
- Preserve funding for Medicare; working against the privization of Social Security
- Won automatic cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) for retired public employees.
What is PEOPLE?
Public
Employees
Organized to
Promote
Legislative
Equality
(P.E.O.P.L.E.) is CSEA-AFSCME’s political action fundraising program. The PEOPLE committee is responsible for raising money to promote the interests of the membership in the political and legislative process.
How funds are used
The PEOPLE Program doesn’t just hand out money to politicians. Election Law limits the dollar amount that can be contributed to any candidate. The funds are spent as follow:
• TO ENDORSE candidates who support public employee issues, based on recommendations from the CSEA membership.
• TO COMMUNICATE with the candidates our position on issues that affect you.
• TO LOBBY legislators to secure necessary funding to protect your job in the state and federal budget process and to protect your rights in the workplace.
• TO EDUCATE the CSEA membership on legislative initiatives that could affect them and to encourage them to call or write the appropriate elected official.
• TO MONITOR proposed legislation to ensure that our members’ voices on matters affecting them is heard.
What PEOPLE has done for you…
• PASSED the Family and Medical Leave Act – allows up to twelve weeks of unpaid leave for the birth or adoption of a child or the serious illness of a parent, spouse or child.
• DEFEATED legislation that would have forced local governments to consider privatizing public water systems.
• DEFEATED legislation that would have privatized highways and public transit systems.
• PREVENTED TANF reauthorization that would have led to privatization of thousands of social service jobs.
• PASSED permanent COLA legislation that gives retirees automatic pension increases.
What PEOPLE is doing for you now…
• FIGHTING to keep Medicare and Social Security funding at levels that would not hurt our senior citizens, children and the disabled.
• FIGHTING TO OPPOSE legislation that would allow states and local governments to privatize public sectors.
• OPPOSE legislation that would raise the eligibility age, reduce benefits or privatize Social Security.
• FIGHTING for a real Patient’s Bill of Rights that would reform HMOs.
• FIGHTING to keep state and federal funding levels to ensure the protection of our member jobs and the programs they administer.
• FIGHTING to maintain union protection and public service jobs.
• FIGHTING against federal and state attacks on education, health care and workers’ rights.
An Agenda for working families
The PEOPLE agenda is to work toward fair and progressive legislation for all Americans. With the PEOPLE program, you can have a say on legislation that will have an impact on federal, state and local government budgets.
Our families are more secure and our communities healthier when everyone has a chance at a decent job, education for our children and affordable health care. Join with the thousands across the country and have a voice on state and federal policies that affect you and your family.