Every four years, under our constitutional democracy, citizens of the United States are given the opportunity to choose new leadership to guide our nation.

On Nov. 2, 2004, we will have the opportunity to vote for who will lead us as president and vice president of the United States. In addition, we have the opportunity to vote for our member of the House of Representatives, elected every two years. Many of us will also have the chance to vote for a senator for a six-year term.

And, Election Day 2004 also will give us the opportunity to elect state and local officials who will keep our states and localities running.

The GCIU believes that working Americans should choose those who pass the laws that govern us – laws that affect us in our homes and in the workplace. We feel that it is our duty to offer guidance to the membership on which candidates are better for working Americans.

But, it is up to the individual GCIU member, family, and friends to ensure that they are able to vote by registering in their local community. Unless you are registered, you cannot vote. So, we urge everyone in the GCIU family to check with your local election board and make sure you are registered so you can exercise your democratic rights on Nov. 2, 2004.

In the upcoming presidential election, the GCIU and countless other concerned labor and family-oriented organizations are "scared." They have observed how the Bush administration has worked to help corporations and the wealthy while denying sufficient funding to schools, veterans' benefits, health care programs and other existing programs to help average Americans.

That is why the GCIU is taking the extraordinary step of asking GCIU members and their friends to help us defeat George W. Bush and elect a known friend – Sen. John Kerry – as the next president of the United States.

We ask that you follow the campaign with an open mind. If you agree that reversing the current pro-corporate leadership is important, please contribute to the GCIU's Political Action Fund to help elect John Kerry.

We believe that four more years under the Bush administration will eliminate the middle class, destroy Social Security and Medicare, and undermine the labor laws – such as overtime pay and job safety and health provisions – that have helped working Americans obtain a good life.

Please contribute to PAF and help to protect your job and fight the administration's attempts to help the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.. Please send your contribution (cash or money orders only) to: GCIU Political Action Fund, 1900 L Street, NW (Ninth Floor), Washington, DC 20036.