Tips for Making Your Voice Heard

If you are concerned about the negative impact card check will have on you, your family or your job, write a letter to the editor of your local paper and to your elected representatives in the U.S. Congress to make your voice heard. Use the tips below to develop the most effective communication:

• Use your own words.
  • Use the fact sheet and other available materials as your jumping off point, but make the letter your own by incorporating your own opinions and examples.

• Describe your personal connection to card check.
  • While it’s okay to include facts about the card check bill, it is more important to tell your story about how the bill will impact you personally.

• Include a clear “call to action.”
  • If you’re writing a letter to the editor, urge other members of the community to join you in voicing concerns about card check.
  • If you’re writing to an elected official, ask him or her to vote against card check legislation.

• Limit your letters to no more than 300 words.

• Sign your letters and include your city of residence and a daytime phone number.

• Use technology where possible.
  • Letters sent via e-mail are easy for papers to publish because they do not have to be typed into the newspaper’s computer system.