Armed with lists of hundreds of names, Local 237 business agents fanned out throughout the five boroughs and Long Island last month in an intensive drive to sign up all Local members who are not yet registered to vote.

Local 237 President Carl Haynes said that an initial study of the voting rolls indicated that nearly 60 percent of the members were already registered to exercise their voting privilege.

The Local president initiated the voter registration drive to coincide with similar campaigns instituted by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the AFL-CIO. The registration drives are a major element in the political mobilization plan endorsed by the AFL-CIO Executive Council earlier this year.

Both IBT General President James P. Hoffa and President Haynes sit as the two Teamster representatives on the AFL-CIO Executive Council. They agreed that it was vital for union members to take part in the action plan, which is aimed at educating and preparing members for the most important 2004 Presidential election.

“The conservative assaults on Labor by the Bush administration are costing Americans their jobs, as more and more major corporations move their businesses to foreign nations where sweatshops are permitted to operate,” Haynes asserted.

He reiterated that as public employees and as Teamsters, they must recognize the importance of public policy on their lives and understand how they can influence this policy through the power of their vote.

The registration drive is being coordinated by Local 237 Vice President Richard Hendershot.