AFL-CIO launches direct mail program for the 2016 election

The AFL-CIO launched its direct mail program for the 2016 election Monday, an effort aimed at reaching union members and their families.

The AFL-CIO, an umbrella labor group for unions, will send mailers supporting Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and Democratic Senate candidate Catherine Cortez Masto to 15,000 Nevada voters this week.

The mailers call Clinton, who faces Republican Donald Trump, a “real labor champ” who will protect family and medical leave and reward corporations that share profits with employees.

The mailers for Cortez Masto, who is running against U.S. Rep. Joe Heck, R-Nev., highlight her family’s labor roots. Her father, the late Manny Cortez, was a parking attendant at the Dunes who belonged to the Teamsters union before leading the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

“Direct mail is one of the best tried-and-true ways we get information about elections to our members,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said in a statement. “Working families trust their unions more than any other source of information, and we take that seriously.”

In all, the AFL-CIO expects to reach about 200,000 households with union members this election cycle, through mailers, door-knocking and other methods.

Mailers will go out until early voting starts in October.

– Ben Botkin