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Ready for 2011Well, as you can see onthe cover of this editionof the Journal, we hadsome winners on Election Day. And yes,you saw it right, we hadDemocratic and RepublicanIUPAT supported winners.Surprised? You shouldn’t be.The IUPAT political philosophy inthis election was summed up in aphrase we yelled at every stop in ourcoast-to-coast bus tour: We’re followingunemployment lines, not partylines! Our winners last Novemberwere “working family” winners, notjust Democrat or Republican. We letall candidates we met with knowthat everything we did in that electionwas about getting jobs for ourmembers - period.Now, as the members of 112th United StatesCongress prepare to be sworn in next January, weare readying ourselves to once again take this messageto Capitol Hill. This fight didn’t stop withElection Day, it continues to go on every day. OnNovember 30th, Vermont Independent SenatorBernie Sanders delivered a speech to the Senate thattruly explains the attack against working familiesand how the people we elected have taken sidesagainst each other and, even worse, against us.I’ve directed the communications department toplace this video on our YouTube channel -www.YouTube.com/GoIUPAT. Watch this video andyou'll see why we fight so hard in Washington, DCevery day.Today, in North America, over 17% of Americansand Canadians are out of work. The official statisticsJ A M E S A . W I L L I A M SG E N E R A L P R E S I D E N Twere just listed as 9.8% in the U.S., but the rest haveeither given up on claiming unemployment and/orare homeless and left on their own. They’ve beenforgotten in the underground economy in both ourcountries.We need to understand that and make our electedofficials in both the United States and Canada standup for us and stay focused on the working familiesagenda - Jobs, Jobs and more Jobs.We at the International aregoing to do our part, but we needyour help. In fact, our Election Dayactivities gave us the opportunity toput thousands of our unemployedmembers to work. We hired themto get out the vote by going doorto door and working the phonebanks to get the best candidateselected. I received hundreds ofcomments on how effective theirefforts were and I want to personallythank them for making ourunion the best organization in thelabor movement in good times andbad.When I met with the other AFL-CIO general presidents after theelection, some of the politiciansthat won called into our meeting. Icannot tell you how proud I waswhen Governor Pat Quinn of Illinois and Senator-electJoe Manchin of West Virginia singled out the IUPAT tothank us for our help. We were the only BuildingTrades union mentioned on the call.Needless to say, I received quite a few positivecomments from the other union leaders about ourrecognition on the call. I told them I have the best jobin the world because I have the best members in thelabor movement. Thank you to those who put so muchtime into the campaigns we worked on this year.Obviously not all of them were winners but believeme, they knew who was in this fight.I also want to thank our members who ran for publicoffice. Whether they won or lost doesn't matter,what's commendable is that they got involved andtook the challenge.Continued on page 304 O C T O B E R - D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 0 • J O U R N A L