Attacks on Public Workers are Attacks on the Middle Class

Attacks on Public-Employee Unions Undermine the Middle Class

"Oklahoma, Tennessee and Ohio are likewise all considering legislation to ban various types of collective bargaining, and in Indiana, almost every Democratic member of the state's House of Representative recently boycotted a legislative session to stop a bill that would weaken collective bargaining.

What has not been clearly noted, however, despite the thousands of barrels of ink that have been spilled about this topic, is the underlying motive behind these attacks. Why, exactly, has the governor of the Badger State made destroying public-sector unions his No. 1 goal? Why are similar efforts being made in numerous other states? Why target public-sector workers and their unions? What put this on the top of the hard right's agenda? Especially because, as The New York Times noted, "A raft of recent studies found that public salaries, even with benefits included, are equivalent to or lag slightly behind those of private sector workers with a similar education.

There is a plan at work here - let's call it, "the Plan" - and that plan is designed to accomplish the following goals:

1. Defund the Democrats. This is perhaps the most transparent of the goals of the Plan, because Republicans have not been shy about pointing out how, in various states, labor union contributions of both time and money have supplied Democrats with critical support at election time. The actual numbers can be debated and most of the Republican claims of labor union dominance of the Democratic Party are overblown. The failure of Congress, even when Democrats controlled both the White House and both houses of Congress from 2008-2010, to enact any substantive federal labor law reform, is stark evidence of that. But labor generally comes back to the Democrats and Republicans, and other right-wingers recognize that disabling labor unions now will advance their legislative agenda in the long run.

2. Delegitimize Government. Once public-sector unions are destroyed or damaged and the wages and benefits of public employees are slashed, the ability of government to attract and retain qualified, dedicated employees - whether teachers, bus drivers, fire fighters or police - will deteriorate. The more that happens, the greater the pressure to turn over these and all other "public" services to for-profit private companies, a trend that is already in full swing.

3. Redefine the Middle Class Downward. Above all else, the attack on public employees and their unions is an effort to eliminate the one substratum of working people who still, to a large extent, maintain a truly "middle-class" existence, a life where the rent or mortgage payments may be paid, health coverage is maintained and retirement savings socked away in defined benefit pension plans, where it will actually still be available upon retirement."

We can't let this happen. Revenue with Justice for All will ensure that our public structures are intact and that our taxpayer dollars are used for the common benefit and good of all our communities, and not funneled to billionaire corporations in an attempt to dismantle our government and our democracy and replace it with a privatized oligarchy. The time is now to take a stand, speak out, and stop this Plan in its tracks.