2022 HVALF questionnaire - City, Township, and Village Office (NOT Ann Arbor)
This is the Huron Valley Area Labor Federation's (HVALF) questionnaire for candidates for municipal office outside the City of Ann Arbor in the 2022 election cycle.

Running for Ann Arbor City Council? You're in the wrong place! That questionnaire is available here: https://forms.gle/FSPLKwY1n9K6bDgj7

The HVALF is the regional level of the American Federation of Labor - Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), the federation of unions that represents about 11.5 of the 14.5 million union members in the United States.   The HVALF represents over 40 local unions based in four counties (Washtenaw, Livingston, Jackson and Hillsdale).  We bring together local union leaders to build a labor movement that aims to improve the lives of all working families. To this end, we support the fight for worker rights and living wages in the workplace, and work to change the balance of political power to achieve racial and social justice in our region and our state.        

Supporting political candidates who share these objectives is a vital part of our strategy for realizing those goals. With candidates for local offices, such as these, the HVALF will make the endorsements for our region, and the Michigan AFL-CIO will back us up with access to their state-wide and national resources.  

Please note that we reserve the right to share the information you provide us in this survey with our delegates, our affiliates' members, and the public.

It is recommended that you fill out your long answers in a word document, and then copy/paste them into the form to avoid technical difficulties with editing your responses.

Are you filling out the correct form?
Countywide Officers - https://forms.gle/u7YEn6FfYcWRnV6x9
School Board - https://forms.gle/PiKDvC1oN5nuc28F8
Ann Arbor - https://forms.gle/FSPLKwY1n9K6bDgj7
State Rep/Senate -https://forms.gle/iC91kyhHzvWpL5yUA
Judicial - https://forms.gle/4EMohnwCjimf1gW69
County Commission - https://forms.gle/xJuheHQDkuaZihhKA
Municipal (not Ann Arbor) - https://forms.gle/Etr4Sxs29hufmeLHA

If you have any questions please contact HVALF Field Coordinator Trent Varva at tvarva@miaflcio.org

!!!!!!!!!!DEALINE FOR SUBMISSION WILL BE APRIL 22.!!!!!!!!!!
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Campaign Details Section
Below please fill out relevant information about yourself and your campaign.
Your full name (as it will appear on the ballot) *
Your phone number *
Would you prefer to be contacted via text or called?
Clear selection
Your email (please do NOT list your government email, if any) *
What is your occupation and employer?
Your union affiliation, past or present (if any). Please specify active/former/retired. *
Have you attended an AFL-CIO Path2Power candidate training or GLPA Training? *
Your partisan affiliation, EVEN IF THE OFFICE YOU ARE SEEKING IS NONPARTISAN (HVALF is a nonpartisan organization that endorses members of all political parties for public office) *
Where are you running for office? (Please select from dropdown menu.) *
What office are you seeking? *
What district/precinct/ward are you running in (or is the seat elected at-large)? *
Township offices are all elected at-large. If you're seeking City office please help us understand your race by clarifying whether you're running for an at-large seat elected by the entire city, or if you're running to represent a particular district/precinct/ward.
How long is the term you're seeking (in years)? *
Are you the incumbent for the office you're seeking? *
Please list your opponent(s). *
Is there anything that we should know about your opponent(s)? / Why should we endorse you over your opponent(s)? *
Will you appear on the ballot or are you a write-in candidate? *
What elected or appointed offices have you held that are relevant to the position you seek? *
What is the year, make (e.g., Ford) and model (e.g., Mustang) of your automobile? *
Do you utilize union shops and buy union-made goods and services? Give an example. *
What organizations are you a member of or affiliated with? *
Website address (if any) *
Campaign committee name & mailing address *
Campaign manager name *
Treasurer name *
How many votes do you need in order to win? (What is your "win number"?) *
How much money do you need to raise and how will you raise it? *
What is your cash on hand? *
How many doors do you personally plan to knock as a candidate? *
How many doors does your campaign plan to knock total (including your candidate doors)? *
How many doors have you personally already knocked as a candidate? *
How many doors has your campaign already knocked total (including your candidate doors)? *
What other endorsements do you already have? *
What other endorsements are you seeking? *
What are your top priorities in the office you’re seeking? *
General Labor Issues Section
Workers are organizing at a steady pace to improve their wages, benefits, and working conditions. Yet, in workplace after workplace, employers and the legislature are working to bust up unions through many different anti-labor tactics. Workers need the support of their communities now more than ever in order to overcome these tactics and be free to make an appropriate decision.
If elected, will you pledge to support employee's rights to organize, bargain collectively, and strike, do everything with in your power to repeal "right to work" legislation and reinstate prevailing wage? *
In the event of a budget crunch, do you commit to reducing senior administrator staffing levels, pay and benefits prior to considering layoffs, furloughs, or cuts to the pay and benefits of rank-and-file workers? *
Will you commit to substantive consultation with workers’ unions on how to address major problems, including budget shortfalls, before considering layoffs, furloughs, etc.? *
Will you publicly oppose any and every County or City reapportionment or redistricting scheme that favors anti-labor candidates and organizations? *
Upon the request of HVALF, will you support the appointment of at least one representative of organized labor to any and all advisory bodies, boards, and commissions? *
In hiring senior administrators (superintendent, county administrator, city attorney, etc.), will you grant preference to candidates with a demonstrated history of pro-worker, pro-union decisions as determined by HVALF? Will you provide the “short list” of top candidates to HVALF for review in a timely manner so that we can research them and inform you as to which candidates we find acceptable and unacceptable prior to making your decision? *
What have you done, and what will you do, to strengthen unions and the labor movement in your municipality? *
Will you attend open bargaining and union meetings in and near your municipality when invited? *
Will you pass and enforce this resolution in support of public sector employee rights? *
How will you move toward all-EV, all-union, and all-American vehicle fleets? *
Many Municipalities are moving away from "lowest bidder" policies for deciding who to hire for construction work, and moving toward "responsible contracting" policies instead. Responsible contracting policies help a district make a holistic evaluation of a bidder based on the bidder's past experience, their workers' training and qualifications, their safety record, and other factors in addition to bottom-line cost. If elected, will you work with HVALF to pass a strong responsible contracting policy using the concept "best value" in your Municipality? *
In the event of a union organizing drive in our region, would you publicly support workers' efforts to form a union and negotiate a collective bargaining agreement? *
Does your municipality have an existing prevailing wage ordinance? If so, will you direct staff to enforce it? *
Governance Issues Section
As an elected official, it will be your job to make decisions on a wide range of issues affecting your community and to represent all of your constituents. Knowing that many of your constituents do not have access to the "traditional" leavers of political power, how do you plan to represent them on the following issues?
(YPSILANTI CANDIDATES ONLY) If the issue arises, will you oppose attempts to change Ypsilanti city elections from partisan to nonpartisan?
(This is part 1 of a 3-part question.) Please describe your role as an elected official in agenda-setting, determining public policy, and making decisions regarding the budget. *
(Part 2 of 3) Please describe the role of your appointed administrators (e.g., the city manager) in agenda-setting, determining public policy, and making decisions regarding the budget.
(Part 3 of 3) What will you do when there is disagreement or conflict between you and the administration?
How will you ensure an accurate Census count of undercounted populations in your area? *
Many working families are struggling to get by with stagnant or declining real wages, a rising cost of living, and accelerating income inequality. Do you consider these trends to be inevitable or acceptable? If so, why? If not, what can you -- in the office you seek -- do to help reverse them? *
For more on what is happening to real wages in Washtenaw County, see this report: http://sites.lsa.umich.edu/tomweisskopf/wp-content/uploads/sites/278/2015/08/Growing-Together-or-Drifting-Apart.pdf
What is the median household income for your municipality? What will you do to ensure working people (those earning the median household income or less) can afford to live in your municipality? *
Do you support strengthening the local economy and improving the quality of work on municipal projects through Community Benefit Agreements, certified payroll, local preference ordinances, and so on? *
How will you increase community involvement in public decisions about economic development? *
Will you pass and enforce this resolution opposing privatization? *
What are your thoughts on your local criminal justice system? If there are problems, what are they and how will you work to fix them? *
Will you amend the zoning ordinance to allow for Accessory Dwelling Units (mother-in-law suites, for example) in every residential area? *
How will you work to ensure that no person is evicted from their home during the cold months, and that nobody suffers from utility shut offs at any time? *
If elected, will you oppose delegating the power of elected officials to unelected positions with no direct accountability to the public? (Eg. appointed boards, administrators, or supervisors, etc.) *
How will you ensure that your local Clerk will maintain a permanent absentee voter list? *
How will you ensure that your local Clerk’s offices will be open for extra hours several weeks before each election to facilitate absentee voting? *
How will you use procurement and leasing as tools for extending decent wages and other pro-worker values into the private sector? *
How will you encourage telecommuting for direct employees? *
How will you work to coordinate with other local governments on regional issues? *
(YPSILANTI CITY AND TOWNSHIP CANDIDATES ONLY) How will you aggressively support regional public transit?
Will you pass and enforce this resolution to ensure a living wage for your direct employees and for businesses you contract with? *
Is there anything else that you would like HVALF Delegates and Committee on Political Education (COPE) members to know about you? If so, please indicate below. *
I, a candidate seeking HVALF support, have reviewed this questionnaire and will stand by my responses. I understand that typing or writing my name below and submitting this form constitutes my signature. *
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