Gulf Coast Unions Scramble to Get out the Census After Supreme Court Cuts Census Deadline Short

HOUSTON — In the wake of Wednesday’s Supreme Court ruling on Wednesday allowing the Trump administration to cut the decennial count early, Houston unions scrambled today to reach out to remaining uncounted households in the Gulf Coast area.

Texas Gulf Coast Area Labor Federation Communications Director Jay Malone said: “For working people, being undercounted means not getting our fair share of resources and political representation at a time when we can ill-afford it. Congressional seats, community infrastructure, Medicaid, public education, and any potential COVID relief — adequate funding for all those programs is put at risk by the Supreme Court’s siding with the Trump administration to cut the deadline short.”

The Texas Gulf Coast Area Labor Federation and its local union affiliates have made over 200,000 calls and knocked over 15,000 doors to help get out in the census in Harris County. They have also partnered with the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA) to make bilingual calls in Vietnamese, Chinese, Arabic, and Tagalog to hard-to-count communities in Harris County and Fort Bend County.

APALA and the Texas Gulf Coast Area Labor Federation will host a final phonebank tonight at 6pm to reach union members in hard-to-count communities. For more information, click here.

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The Texas Gulf Coast Area Labor Federation (TGCALF), AFL-CIO unites the power of 95 unions representing 60,000 union members across 13 counties to advocate for working families in the Texas Gulf Coast. We mobilize our members and community partners to demand a fair shot at better lives for all working people — regardless of the color of our skin, which country we come from, or whom we love. Learn more: www.gcaflcio.org/