TURN UP THE VOLUME:  BE COUNTED

A union may give professionals a voice in the workplace and in the legislative and political arenas, but the volume of that voice is determined through the collective action of individual members who lend their attention, time and energy to supporting the union’s cause.

AFT president Edward J. McElroy is calling on the AFT’s more than 1.3 million members to get involved in the union—sign up with the Count Me In campaign (www.aft.org/CountMeIn)—to bolster the union’s efforts on behalf of its members as well as working families. As McElroy says, the union isn’t just a service to the membership. It is “a way to be part of a cause.”

“There are large and small ways to get involved, but the important thing is that, in some way, every member of this union says, ‘Count Me In,’” McElroy says. “At this moment in our history, we have a golden opportunity to create a sweeping change in this country—to sweep out of office those who would undermine the role of government to promote the common good—starting with November’s congressional and gubernatorial elections and ending in two years when we put a friend of all we stand for in the White House.

“It’s not going to be easy, and it’s not going to happen at all unless I can hear each and every one of you say: ‘Count Me In.’”