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Lede: On of America’s biggest unions is pressing a campaign to “Make America Happen”. Doug Cunningham reports.

By Doug Cunningham

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees is a political powerhouse with 1.6 million members.

With nearly six hundred thousand jobs lost in January alone, the U.S. economy is perilously close to a depression. AFSCME President Gerald McEntee says his union supports President Obama’s Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

[McEntee]: “The plan is a good plan, we think it’ll put people back to work and we’re supporting it. AFSCME has launched a new campaign called Make America Happen, and it’s to support President Obama’s efforts to revitalize our economy and then to provide health care for all and strengthen the middle class.”

McEntee says for his members the economic recovery act is critical – and the aid to states in this bill is essential to keep critical services to people at the local level. Health care reform and the Employee Free Choice Act labor law reform are also near the top of the priority list for AFSCME. McEntee says corporations are fighting hard against the labor law reform.

[McEntee]: “They are deathly afraid of the Employee Free Choice Act because for the first time workers would have a way to join unions and thereby workers would begin to have a measure of equality – a balance – at the bargaining table.”