By Jennifer Granholm

First and foremost, let me thank the building trades for endorsing my candidacy for governor. Your early and strong support for my campaign helped me win big in the August primary.

With your support this fall, I will win, and together we will make history. And for the first time in 12 years, the building trades will have a seat at the policy table in Lansing.

I am proud to have chosen state Sen. John D. Cherry of Clio as my running mate. As you know, Sen. Cherry is a long-time ally of the labor movement in our state. His legislative expertise and his strong interest in helping working families made him the top choice for me.

Like you, I have a job to do - build a future for Michigan families that protects their economic security. That includes not raising property taxes. My opponent in this campaign has not told the truth about my stance on Proposal A. I have not and will not propose any change to Proposal A that will raise property taxes. I will keep the promise of Proposal A, which has resulted in lower property taxes for Michigan families and more equitable funding for our schools.

It is irresponsible for my opponent to charge that I will raise taxes when the current administration is not spending the state's money wisely. Until the state spends every taxpayer penny effectively, no one should be talking about raising taxes.

Protecting your economic security means protecting your access to your health care benefits. My opponent wants to convert Blue Cross Blue Shield from a non-profit company to a for-profit one. "Politicizing" Blue Cross will result in higher health-care coverage premiums for working families, pricing many families out of their coverage.

I have opposed making Blue Cross a for-profit company, since I first heard that the Republican-controlled legislature was considering the move. I will continue to fight to keep Blue Cross a non-profit company to keep health care insurance affordable for our families.

Keeping your workplace safe is also key to your economic security. With fewer MIOSHA inspectors under the Engler-Posthumus Administration, some workers have paid with their lives. As Governor, I will fight to get more safety inspectors in the field, we can perform regular, unannounced inspections of work sites to ensure your personal safety.

Sen. Cherry and I also plan to fight for stronger corporate responsibility standards in Michigan. We will fight for better 401k protection and we are developing legislation that specifically makes corporate insider trading and document shredding done to obstruct justice, a crime in our state. We also will issue an executive order our first week in office that bans the state from doing business with companies that break state or federal laws in regards to environment, workers' rights, and corporate accountability laws.

Protecting working families also means preserving our prevailing wage laws. As attorney general I have vigorously defended our prevailing wage laws in court. As governor, I will do everything I can to strengthen and protect them. We also will fight to index unemployment benefits to the rate of inflation.

Workers deserve to have unemployment compensation that keeps up with the cost of living. I applauded the elimination of the "penalty week," but it disappoints me that only workers who make more than $30,000 a year receive an increase and that 40 percent of laid-off workers will see no increase. All workers need an increase.

I look forward to working with the building trades along the campaign trail, and when I am in the governor's office in Lansing, a Granholm-Cherry Administration will bring the building trades back to the table to help create policies that treat both workers and employers fairly.