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| | MESSAGE FROM SECRETARY-TREASURER
Steven P. Vairma |
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“Change” is more than cute politics
The results of the recent political caucuses are a sure sign that voters are sick and tired of the old politics-as-usual games played in Washington. Record numbers of Democratic voters had no reservations whatsoever about expressing their opinions that either a black man or a white woman ought to be president of their country.
And, while the turnout was not as heavy in the Republican caucuses, a moderate Republican-an anachronism nowadays-won a surprising victory over the stridently anti-labor rightwing of the GOP.
The message came through loud and clear: “Change” meant more to the general public than it did to the pundits who pontificated that it was merely a cute political slogan. Americans, it seems, are finally demanding change.
They are tired of war, of a huge national debt, of trade deficits, of the devaluation of the dollar, of continuing losses of tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs, of stagnant wages; and they dread the thought of getting sick because they can’t afford health care.
It didn’t take America’s labor movement long after George W. Bush began his first term in 2002 to see that his administration would be a disaster for working men and women. Every major policy decision made by the Bush administration has helped advance the profitability and general well being of multinational corporations at the expense of working men and women.
However, Democrats, too, must share in the blame for what has happened to the American workforce. The global free trade agreements that have resulted in massive American job losses were initiated with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which was negotiated by the Clinton administration. In addition, federal legislation that would have made it illegal for companies to hire strikebreakers was defeated when Clinton refused to persuade congressional Democrats to pass the bill.
While Clinton might warrant a grade of “C” from the working class, George W. Bush has been a dismal failure. The Bush administration has supported economic policies and tax cuts for the rich that have nearly decimated the middle class. The Bush tax cuts provided millionaires an average tax break of $36,398, while the middle 20 percent of taxpayers got $652.
Under President Bush the country has amassed a huge national debt and is now among the world’s largest debtor nations. Experts warn that the American economy is in much deeper trouble than most people realize. The mortgage crisis in this country is not only adversely affecting our economy, but also the economies of many other nations.
The high cost of health care is a huge issue to the U.S. workforce. Statistics show that middle class Americans are spending more and more of their paychecks each year on health care and are getting less for their money. Health care insurance is the biggest single issue facing unions in collective bargaining with employers.
We have needed major changes for a long time in this country. In 2006, a poll showed that 56 percent of voters believed the United States is on the wrong economic track, while 29 percent said the nation was moving in the right direction. Both those numbers undoubtedly are considerably worse today, given the mortgage crisis and the problems in the domestic auto industry.
It is a fact that unions are most effective in tough economic times, and we, it appears, could be heading into a dangerous new period of working class deprivation. That’s why it is important that our politicians change the way they have been doing business. The multinational corporations’ insidious campaign to make a Third World workforce in the United States must be stopped. And, if the recent caucus results are an indication, the American people intend to do that in November. For once, politicians are being forced to take the word “change” seriously, and that has to be a good omen.
RightToWorkForLessInfo.pdf
