by James Parks, Mar 4, 2011
With 10,000 members of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) on the line, U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis earlier this week pledged her support for public employees struggling to save their right to bargain for good middle class jobs.
In a phone call to CWA members this week, Solis, who comes from a union family, said she is inspired and proud of the hundreds of thousands of union and non-union workers nationwide who are taking on the states’ aggressive anti-worker agendas. She said
Budget sacrifices are one thing but demanding that workers give up
their voice is another. The governors aren’t just asking us to tighten
our belts, they’re demanding we give up our uniquely American rights
as workers.
The governors’ targets are “the men and women who care for our neighbors, teach our kids, keep our communities safe and clean, and run into burning buildings when others will not,” she said.
They do their work with little fanfare and don’t expect recognition,
but through unions they have a voice in the workplace and in their
future, and that’s what’s put us in the middle class.
