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Both the AFL-CIO and United Way of America believe that voluntarism is the essence of a democratic society;Both believe that the government's fundamental responsibility in meeting the basic health and welfare needs of the American people can best be discharged in cooperation with voluntary agencies;Both believe that United Way of America provides an opportunity for all citizens, regardless of race, color, age, sex, national origin, and economic condition, to come together for the common good; and both believe that voluntary association of free men and women must pioneer in new directions to meet the changing needs of our changing times.

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For the continuance of this cooperative relationship, programs are conducted at the national, state and local levels in an effort to provide ongoing services to the total community.

National Involvement

Organized labor is part of the decision-making process at United Way of America. Currently, there are six AFL-CIO representatives serving on United Way of America's Board of Governors, two of them on the executive committee, and two additional representatives serving on the board of directors of United Way International.

Department of Labor Participation
The Department of Labor Participation serves as liaison between the national AFL-CIO and United Way of America, and is staffed by seven AFL-CIO Community Services liaisons: a senior director, an assistant director and an assistant to the senior director make up the department located at United Way of America's national office in Alexandria, Virginia; four regional directors operate from regional offices across the country which mirror the AFL-CIO Field Mobilization Department's regions.

Labor Letters of Endorsement Program
Contributions from workers account for approximately two-thirds of the funds that United Ways raise each year. Through the Labor Letters of Endorsement Program of the Department of Labor Participation, the AFL-CIO president and the Field Mobilization Department ask presidents of AFL-CIO affiliated unions and state federations to send letters endorsing United Way campaigns to their memberships. The Labor Letters of Endorsement Program encourages individual union members to volunteer their time and contribute their resources to United Way campaigns. It also encourages local unions and central labor councils to endorse and support United Way campaigns.

Labor Recognition
The Joseph A. Beirne Community Services Award, established by United Way of America's Board of Governors in November 1974, honors the memory of one of the most remarkable labor leaders of our time. This annual award recognizes labor leaders who have rendered outstanding United Way volunteer service.

Local Involvement

AFL-CIO Community Services Liaison Network

Over 200 full-time state and local AFL-CIO Community Services Liaisons serve as links between their state federations and central labor councils and United Ways in 169 communities across the United States. In addition, 20 of 21 local labor agencies and five state labor agencies receive direct United Way support. Canada has 36 full-time Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) Labour Liaisons.

Key areas of responsibility include:

• To implement the AFL-CIO Community Services core program:

  • union counselor training,
  • assistance to working families experiencing lay-off or strike, help for the unemployed,
  • information and referral, and case management,
  • retiree and older worker programs,
  • blood drives and disaster services.
• To increase labor participation in the United Way campaign.
• To cultivate AFL-CIO/United Way relationships.
• To carry out special AFL-CIO community services projects. To attend appropriate AFL-CIO and United Way functions.
• To expand labor's knowledge and use of community resources.
• To fulfill administrative responsibilities

Labor Participation on Voluntary Boards and Committees
A major activity of the AFL-CIO Community Services Program is to recruit, train and place diverse members of organized labor on the decision-making bodies of health and human-care service organizations. This is done at the national, state and local levels.

Northwest Indiana Federation of Labor AFL-CIO

Programs

Retirement

• Seminars are held for people planning to retire or who have recently done so.
• Participants discuss how to cope with their new way of life by exploring such topics as financial planning, consumer information, leisure activities and housing arrangements.
• Participants learn about volunteer opportunities that allow them to make good use of their skills, including serving on volunteer boards and committees of health and human-care service organizations.

• Under the direction of the AFL-CIO Field Mobilization Department, state and local AFL-CIO Community Services Liaisons and labor agency staff conduct seminars on services to the unemployed.
• Participants learn how to access available resources.
  

NALC National Food Drive

• United Way of America is a full partner in the National Association of Letter Carriers'(NALC) National Food Drive held annually on the second Saturday in May.
• The drive stocks local community food banks, pantries and shelters with non-perishables Letter Carriers collect from customers along their mail routes.
• The drive, which has become the world's largest one-day food drive, was started by NALC in 1991 in cooperation with the U.S. Postal Service and AFL-CIO. United Way became a partner in 1994.