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United Steelworkers Local 890L 500 E. Wilson St. Bryan, Oh. 43506
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"The future depends on what we do in the present." Mahatma Gandhi
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Nov. 11, 2005 What is Rapid Response? Rapid Response is the way the United Steelworkers (U.S.W.) educates and involves our members in the legislative process. The Rapid Response program is basically a political action program that is critical to the future of working families and the future of the labor movement. These are perilous times for the labor movement and working families with Congress and the Senate being dominated by right wing anti-labor, pro-corporation legislators. It is important that we make our voices heard on issues crucial to working families and our union. With thousands of Steelworkers across this great nation, together, speaking one message with a unified voice, we can win and we must win. Some of the issue we have dealt with in the legislative process have been Healthcare, Trade Matters, Labor Law Reform, Workers Compensation, Unemployment, Insurance, Overtime pay, Social Security, Minimum Wage, and many more. USW Local 890L has sent members to meet with Republican Congressman Paul E. Gilmor at his Defiance, OH. office, his Washington D.C. office, and have had him call us on issues. During these meetings and phone calls, we have given him petitions with the signatures of hundreds of people and Steelworkers from northwest Ohio. We spoke to him about issues such as healthcare, Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and Social Security. On all these issues, he stood against working families. We have also had meetings with Senator George Voinovich in Cleveland, Ohio about healthcare, and Permanent Natural Trade Relations with China. We met with Senator Mike DeWine in his Washington D.C. office and talked to him about Healthcare and Free Trade. With all three men we were able to present petitions on these issues that we passed out in the plant and to friends and family members. The support in the plant has been great, About 70-75% of Local 890L gets involved with Rapid Response. How does Rapid Response Work? Our International (U.S.W.) begins by sending out info alerts. These alerts will educate our membership on legislative issues that are important to working families. They may send anywhere from one to a dozen alerts over a period of a few weeks and the Rapid Response team members will pass out the info alerts throughout the plant. We've all seen them laying around the break rooms and work stations. After educating the work force through info alerts, there'll be a call for action. A call for action will ask us to mobilize and do one of the following: sign a petition, call a Senator or Congressman, e-mail them, write a letter, or go to a rally. After this is done we'll receive a feed back report which will tell us how many letters were written or petitions were signed and the results of our efforts. The support for Rapid Response in USW Local 890L has been tremendous and people in District 1 are taking notice of our efforts. Keep up the good work and be proud of your efforts.
In Solidarity, John Vanover, R. R. Coordinator
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