2002 ... A Year to Fight Back
The memories of 2001 will forever be etched in our minds.
Few will forget where they were and what they were doing when
brutal terrorists used America’s air transportation system as a
weapon of destruction ... as a tool to kill thousands, assault our
economy and wreak havoc on our daily lives.
Let us not allow September 11 to obstruct our vision or weaken our
spirit as we transition to 2002. No, we will not forget what those
cowards did to our nation but we will move forward with a purpose to
tackle the many problems confronting BMWE members and all rail
workers.
And, we will not allow the current public euphoria over President
Bush’s leadership around the world in the war against terrorism to
deter us from speaking out against the misguided policies of this
Administration. Of course we stand with the President in America’s
mobilization against the forces of evil but at the same time we will
demand action to help the millions of working families in need rise
from the economic rubble left behind by the destroyed twin towers in
New York city.
The facts are serious and in fact have worsened since I last
communicated to you.
Millions are laid off throughout the nation. While the economy is
in recession, manufacturing is in a depression. Just ask a steelworker
in your town who faces the potential destruction of the U.S. steel
industry brought on by a government that for too many years allowed
foreign steel producers to illegally dump their products in America.
Ask a Machinist member at Boeing who may be one of the 130,000 layoffs
the aircraft manufacturer has announced. Or ask the almost 250,000
airline and hotel workers, most of them union members, who have lost
their jobs in the wake of September 11.
Fortunately, BMWE members have not seen these types of job cuts,
but this union has seen the layoff effects — and make no mistake
about it — no segment of the American work force is immune to the
current economic slowdown and the permanent demise of good jobs in
industrial America.
And still, Congress and the President have yet to act.
As I reported in my last column, politicians were poised to go home
for the holiday without helping the unemployed and without enacting a
single dime to put people back to work. They did.
After witnessing the incredibly swift and bold action of
bipartisanship by these very same politicians immediately following
September 11, few believed our elected officials could demonstrate
such callous disregard for the working men and women who have suffered
so severely since America’s economy went into a tailspin.
In past economic slumps the government has taken action to help the
unemployed and jump start the economy by investing and putting money
in workers’ pockets. Ten years ago, under the first President Bush,
our government at least extended the length of time that workers could
collect unemployment assistance. Yet such a simple and sensible step
has not been taken even though 768,000 laid off workers exhausted
their unemployment benefits between September and December 2001. This
is simply wrong.
Worst of all, the centerpiece of President Bush’s economic
recovery plan was a $1.6 trillion tax cut that left our government
broke and filled the pockets of the richest Americans. Now the
President and his allies in Congress want to finish the job by
proposing billions in tax cuts for the richest corporations like IBM
and General Electric.
As if it isn’t bad enough that the President and Congress went
home for the holiday without helping the unemployed. They also
abandoned many pressing needs. For example, they left Amtrak to fend
for itself as it struggles to meet soaring demand while footing the
bill to implement new security measures needed as result of the
September 11 attacks. They ignored the need to address the
vulnerability of our rail system to terrorist threats. And they failed
to provide an adequate level of assistance and aid to commuter rail
and transit authorities that face the same security threats as the
nation’s airlines and airports.
September 11 taught us a great deal about our vulnerabilities as a
nation. Today, that horrific day is reminding us that politics
matters.
Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, House Democratic Leader Richard
Gephardt and some courageous Senate and House Republicans want to help
the laid off workers in this country by ensuring they do not lose
unemployment benefits or health care coverage. The Republican-led
House twice passed so-called economic stimulus bills that provided
four times as many tax cuts as benefits for middle and low income
people, with no intervention by President Bush. In other words, for
working people it matters who is in charge of our political system.
Yes the memories of 2001 will forever be etched in our minds. But
2002 offers a new beginning. As Americans we have time and again
proven our ability to fight back. With your help 2002 can be a year of
great opportunity. It’s time to:
- Speak out if your Member of Congress supported the forces of
greed that have blocked action to help the unemployed.
- Agitate in your community if your elected official is paying
lip service to the financial and security needs of Amtrak.
- Become an activist on the job to blow the whistle on security
breaches you detect in our rail system.
Finally, make sure you and everyone in your family is registered to
vote because the next time your voice will be counted is on Election
Day 2002 when politicians will be judged not by what they said but by
what they did or didn’t do to help Americans rebound from the slump
in the economic reality. |