Political Action
There is no more powerful tool to advance your well-being and that of your fellow workers than to get personally involved with the American political process by speaking out for initiatives that will make your life better.
Voter Registration Drive - Click here
UFCW Local 464A is committed to positions that improve job security, wages, health care benefits and financial protections in retirement. Today these cornerstones of your prosperity are being eroded by special interests that are driving the American political process solely for their own benefit, not ours.
Jobs – UFCW Local 464A has consistently been successful in protecting the jobs of its members. Still, it is the common practice of American companies to outsource work to lower paying employers especially outside of the United States. In addition, many companies have carved up full-time jobs and farmed them out as temporary or part-time work to avoid paying a decent wage or supplying benefits. And, some organizations recruit and import undocumented labor without concern for immigration laws or worker welfare.
Wages – UFCW Local 464A has fought hard for fair and honest wages and our members can boast of some of the best earnings in America for our industry. Our efforts have also contributed to state mandated minimum wages in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania that far exceed the federal minimum. The minimum wage in all three states stands at $7.15/hr. compared to a federal rate that is 22% less at $5.85. Despite this disparity some executives and politicians consistently work to hold down wages for others while approving regular double-digit increases for themselves.
Health Care – UFCW Local 464A provides quality medical care with no member co-pay. Yet across America the cost of medical care is escalating at a percentage that far exceeds typical pay increases for workers. Employers are intent upon shifting the burden of this cost to workers. Too often co-pays are demanded while coverage shrinks to laughable amounts. For newly hired workers many companies are offering no health care coverage at all.
Social Security – Local 464A maintains a defined benefit pension plan, which provides excellent retirement security. Together with Social Security benefits that our members may be entitled to, a well-deserved comfortable retirement can be anticipated. However, the Bush Administration and some members of Congress want to replace Social Security with a complicated scheme they call “private accounts”. Apart from needing to fund this program by borrowing mind-boggling sums from foreign countries, the government wants to determine which private investment companies would manage our accounts.
EFCA (Employee Free Choice Act) – Improvements for American workers are best achieved through unified action. EFCA, which passed in the House of Representatives on March 1, 2007, would restore workers’ freedom to join a union. However, on June 26, 2007 procedural maneuvers in the Senate by a minority opposed to this bill stymied the majority (51 Senators) who favor it.
Put your representatives in Washington on notice that you are expecting them to take action on these issues. Click here for a sample letter that you can print, sign and send to your Senators and Congressman.
Do it now! Do it often!
Sample Letter
(Insert today’s date here)
(Insert Name of Senator or Congressman here)
(Insert Address here)
(Insert City, State and Zip Code here)
Dear (Insert Senator or Congressman Name):
I am a union member writing to urge your support for initiatives to aid America’s workers. I am referring to wages, health care, retirement security, the right to form and join unions, immigration reform and the enforcement of ethical integrity in management’s dealings with its workers.
It has become standard practice to outsource work to lower paying employers especially abroad, and to hire temps and part-timers. These actions suppress both wages and opportunities for most Americans while a very few are enriched.
Fair, fully funded health care benefits are disappearing. Executives, who hypocritically ensure that their own personal health care is fully paid by the companies they lead, arrogantly dismiss the fact that their decisions to eliminate or reduce these benefits for their workers causes a financial burden of crisis proportions upon American families.
Once guaranteed pensions are now rare with executives once again making sure that they and their cohorts are financially safe and secure while stripping away every vestige of similar security for their workers. They point to 401K and other similar plans, but these are not pensions. They are merely savings plans to be funded out of workers fast shrinking paychecks. Now they and some mis-guided politicians even want to turn social security, the best social program ever introduced for Americans, into a fuzzy scheme of private accounts.
The right to form and join unions and immigration reform are urgent issues. The Employee Free Choice Act needs your unconditional support as a means of combating the relentless decline in the rights of America’s workers. The immigration issue calls for a system to secure our borders and control legal entry. Employer recruitment of undocumented labor should be criminalized.
Finally, you must take action to restore ethics and integrity to management. Since executives and managers are intent upon stripping away the hard won advances that unions have achieved for America’s workers while hypocritically protecting their own, you must step up to support unions and the positions they advocate through legislation, public comment and private deliberation. Give me good reasons to vote for you!
Sincerely,
(Sign your name here)
Voter Registration – New Jersey
Who Can Register:
To register in New Jersey you must be:
- A United States citizen,
- 18 years old by the next election,
- A resident of the county for 30 days before the election.
You are not eligible to register to vote if you are serving a sentence or on parole or probation, as a result of a conviction of an indictable offense under state or federal law or have been adjudged mentally incompetent.
Forms:
You can print a registration application and after entering required data, mail it to the Commissioners of Registration office in the county where you reside. The registration deadline to vote at the next election is 21 days prior to Election Day.
Voter registration Form – English, Spanish Click here
Where to Register:
Applications for registration can also be obtained from the Division of Elections, the Commissioners of Registration office in the County where you live or from your Municipal Clerk. Registration forms are also available at Division of Motor Vehicle offices. You can also register to vote at the same time you are applying for assistance or service at the following agencies:
- New Jersey Medical Assistance & Health Services Program
- WIC (Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infant & Children)
- Work First New Jersey Programs
- Division of Developmental Disabilities
- Office of Disability Services - Department of Human Services - Public Offices
- Armed Forces of the United States Recruitment Offices
- Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Services - Department of Labor
- Commission of the Blind & Visually Impaired
- County Welfare Agency or County Board of Social Services
Voter Registration – New York
Who Can Register:
To register in New York you must:
- Be a United States citizen;
- Be 18 years old by December 31 of the year in which you file this form (note: you must be 18 years old by the date of the general, primary or other election in which you want to vote);
- Live at your present address at least 30 days before an election;
- Not be in jail or on parole for a felony conviction and;
- Not claim the right to vote elsewhere.
To Register:
You can register in person at your county board of elections
- or at any New York State Agency-Based voter registration center.
- You can enter your name directly into a mailing list database to have a New York State Voter Registration Form mailed to you. (NOTE: The same form can be downloaded, using the link below.)
- You can call the 1-800-FOR-VOTE hotline to request a voter application.
- You can download a PDF version of the New York State Voter Registration Form.
- Print the form, complete and sign it, and mail it to your county board of elections.
- Alternately, you can complete a PDF version of the New York State Voter Registration Form on-line by clicking on the link below, typing the necessary information and selecting the appropriate boxes. However, the file size of these forms are substantially larger than the above forms, so it may take quite a while for them to load on computers with slower Internet connections.
- Once the form is completed, you need to print the form and sign it. Then, mail the form to your county board of elections.
Voter Registration - Pennsylvania
Who Can Register:
To register in Pennsylvania you must be:
- A citizen of the United States for at least one month before the next primary, special, municipal, or general election.
- A resident of Pennsylvania and the election district in which the individual desires to register and vote for at least 30 days before the next primary, special, municipal, or general election.
- At least 18 years of age on or before the day of the next primary, special, municipal, or general election.
- The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania ruled on December 26, 2000 that the Pennsylvania law prohibiting convicted felons from registering to vote for five years after their release from prison is unconstitutional.
Where to Register:
- Apply to Register to Vote in Person
Individuals may apply to register to vote at a County Voter Registration Office or other designated sites. - Apply to Register to Vote by Mail
An individual may apply to register to vote by mail in one of three ways.
- The Secretary of the Commonwealth and all county registration commissions supply voter registration by mail
- Download the voter registration application available from this site.
- Complete the Online Pennsylvania Voter Registration Application Form
Click here for voter registration forms.
Your New Jersey Representatives in Washington DC
Senator Robert Menendez |
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Washington Office:
317 Hart Senate Office Building |
New Jersey Office:
Suite 1100 |
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Senator Frank Lautenberg |
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Washington Office:
324 Hart Senate Office Building |
New Jersey Office:
23rd Floor |
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Representative Robert E. Andrews
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Washington Office:
2439 Rayburn House Office Building |
New Jersey Office:
63 N. Broad Street |
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Representative Frank A. LoBiondo
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Washington Office:
2427 Rayburn House Office Building |
New Jersey Office:
5914 Main Street |
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Representative Jim Saxton
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Washington Office:
2217 Rayburn House Office Building |
New Jersey Office:
247 Main Street |
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Representative Christopher H. Smith
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Washington Office:
2373 Rayburn House Office Building |
New Jersey Office:
Suite A-9 |
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Representative Scott Garrett
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Washington Office:
1318 Longworth House Office Building |
New Jersey Office:
Suite 206 |
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Representative Frank Pallone
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Washington Office:
237 Cannon House Office Building |
New Jersey Office:
67/69 Church Street |
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Representative Mike Ferguson
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Washington Office:
214 Cannon House Office Building |
New Jersey Office:
45 Mountain Boulevard |
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Representative Bill Pascrell, Jr.
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Washington Office:
2464 Rayburn House Office Building |
New Jersey Office:
200 Federal Plaza |
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Representative Steven R. Rothman
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Washington Office:
2303 Rayburn House Office Building |
New Jersey Office:
130 Central Avenue |
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Representative Donald M. Payne
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Washington Office:
2209 Rayburn House Office Building |
New Jersey Office:
50 Walnut Street |
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Representative Rodney P. Frelinghuysen
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Washington Office:
2442 Rayburn House Office Building |
New Jersey Office:
30 Schuyler Place |
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Representative Rush D. Holt
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Washington Office:
1019 Longworth House Office Building |
New Jersey Office:
50 Washington Road |
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Representative Albio Sires
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Washington Office:
1024 Longworth House Office Building |
New Jersey Office:
35 Journal Square |
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Your New York Representatives in Washington, DC
Senator Hillary Clinton |
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Washington Office:
476 Russell Senate Office Building |
New York Office:
P. O. Box 617 |
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Senator Charles Schumer |
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Washington Office:
313 Hart Senate Office Building |
New York Office:
Suite 17-02 |
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Representative Timothy Bishop
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Washington Office:
225 Cannon House Office Building |
New York Office:
Suite C |
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Representative Steve Israel
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Washington Office:
432 Cannon House Office Building |
New York Office:
150 Motor Parkway Ste. 108 |
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Representative Peter King
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Washington Office:
339 Cannon House Office Building |
New York Office:
1003 Park Boulevard |
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Representative Carolyn McCarthy
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Washington Office:
106 Cannon House Office Building |
New York Office:
Suite 320 |
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Representative Gary Ackerman
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Washington Office:
2243 Rayburn House Office Building |
New York Office:
218-14 Northern Boulevard |
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Representative Gregory W. Meeks
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Washington Office:
2432 Rayburn House Office Building |
New York Office:
153-01 Jamaica Avenue |
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Representative Joseph Crowley
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Washington Office:
312 Cannon House Office Building |
New York Office:
Suite 306B |
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Representative Jerrold Nadler
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Washington Office:
2334 Rayburn House Office Building |
New York Office:
445 Neptune Avenue |
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Representative Anthony D. Weiner
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Washington Office:
1122 Longworth House Office Building |
New York Office:
Suite 5000 |
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Representative Edolphus Towns
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Washington Office:
2232 Rayburn House Office Building |
New York Office:
Store 5 |
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Representative Yvette D. Clark
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Washington Office:
1029 Longworth House Office Building |
New York Office:
Fourth Floor |
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Representative Nydia Velazquez
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Washington Office:
2446 Rayburn House Office Building |
New York Office:
173 Avenue B |
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Representative Vito Fossella
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Washington Office:
2453 Rayburn House Office Building |
New York Office:
Second Floor |
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Representative Carolyn B. Maloney
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Washington Office:
2331 Rayburn House Office Building |
New York Office:
28-11 Astoria Boulevard |
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Representative Charles B. Rangel
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Washington Office:
2354 Rayburn House Office Building |
New York Office:
163 West 125th Street #737 |
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Representative Jose E. Serrano
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Washington Office:
2227 Rayburn House Office Building |
New York Office:
788 Southern Boulevard |
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Representative Eliot L. Engel
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Washington Office:
2161 Rayburn House Office Building |
New York Office:
Suite 205 |
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Representative Nita M. Lowey
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Washington Office:
2329 Rayburn House Office Building |
New York Office:
Suite 310 |
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Representative John J. Hall
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Washington Office:
1217 Longworth House Office Building |
New York Office:
Room 3232G |
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Representative Kirsten Gillibrand
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Washington Office:
120 Cannon House Office Building |
New York Office:
446 Warren Street |
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Representative Maurice Hinchey
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Washington Office:
2431 Rayburn House Office Building |
New York Office:
291 Wall Street |
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Your Pennsylvania Representatives in Washington, DC
Senator Robert P. Casey |
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Washington Office:
383 Russell Senate Office Building |
Pennsylvania Office:
Suite 1870 |
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Senator Arlen Specter |
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Washington Office:
711 Hart Senate Office Building |
Pennsylvania Office:
Suite 9400 |
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Representative Christopher P. Carney
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Washington Office:
416 Cannon House Office Building |
Pennsylvania Office:
Suite 4 |