From the mountains and valleys of the American West – the most important weekly feature keeping you up to date with the state of the American Working Family, the problems they face and real world solutions that only Union Labor can provide– a look at the American Working Family like you’ve never heard before.
Defenestrate Media and The LEFT Show, in association with the Central Utah Federation of Labor and the AFL-CIO present:
The Working Family Agenda Episode 1
Upon the anniversary of 9/11, The Working Family Agenda, this our inaugural episode, would be remiss to focus on anything other than JOBS THAT MATTER MOST. And when I reflect on that day, my thoughts always come back to the first responders. The people that keep us safe, and rescue us when in trouble, Police and Fire are cornerstones of every community in America. These are Jobs not just in service to the public; these Jobs fulfill our Constitutional Responsibility to each other.
You know, the important part of the constitution, “to establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty, for ourselves, and our posterity.”
YOU KNOW, the part of the constitution that agrees that WE THE PEOPLE, as in everyone, agree to these shared responsibilities, so we may enjoy the rights detailed thereafter. THAT is what was so cowardly attacked ten years ago. AND those willing sacrifice themselves to help those in need, regardless of any circumstance, demonstrate what makes our nation the example to every other. THAT is the type of community, that is the kind of country we all seek.
AND, we owe these people, not only our respect and gratitude for their service; we owe these workers our honest efforts to fulfill our responsibilities to them as well our communities as a whole. So that these workers are able to provide for their families and that we all may benefit from a clean, safe, and secure community that they help provide.
YET, there is a vocal minority that says these workers who serve our public interest do not deserve their health insurance, or that sustaining a living wage for their family is too great an expense. These are the same people who believe that workers demanding a safe workplace cost us our jobs, when actually it is they denying their responsibility to the larger community for the sake of record profits. The emergence of this group of Corporate Welfare Queens does not only target the Heroes of 9/11 evidenced by the previous years of denial of benefits to those heroes, they look at these all important jobs as an expense not worth our investment.
thinkprogress.org reports that House Majority Leader, Eric Cantor, Corporate Welfare Republican from Virginia insists that clean-up funds for the hurricane and earthquake to the D.C. area will come from cuts to First Responders. Not those of that fateful day, but preparededness for the next disaster. This is the sort of hindsight politics that allowed 9/11, the Katrina response, and the financial crisis of 2008 to occur in the first place.
These Corporate Welfare Politicians deny workers their rights through legislation and negative publicity against collective bargaining. These Corporate Welfare Republicans, spin language to disguise the truth about what they are doing to the rest of us. They work to divide us from our own self-interest so they may shirk their responsibility and ship jobs and profits off shore, tax-free.
So here is the simple truth. Collective Bargaining is bulletproof vests for police, and oxygen tanks for firefighters. It is the training that makes them the professionals they are. Collective Bargaining is about all workers being treated fairly, in a safe and non-discriminatory workplace. It is a 40-hour workweek, a lunch hour, your wages and benefits, the professional requirements, all written into a contract. The truth is these Corporate Welfare Queens don’t want you to have a contract, because if you did they would have to live up to their responsibility. So they tell you it is a bad thing, all while they would never do business without a contract. My fellow Americans, these jobs matter to our communities, and these workers deserve the right to have a say in what that job is like. In fact, every job matters, because we all are supporting our mutual endeavors. We all deserve to work with dignity. We all deserve to be treated fairly. We all deserve to work on a contract.
In the weeks to come, The Working Family Agenda will do our very best to return the discussion to the things that matter to working families. These are comments on the issues that both politicians and corporate media fail to accurately service. These are issues that matter to Working Families. I hope you will join me each and every week here on The Working Family Agenda, until then, Peace and Prosperity.
– Brian Faulkner
