Arizona Workers Brace for Battle
by Jon Melegrito | February 07, 2012
Arizona’s middle class was the victim of yet another attack this past week as lawmakers rammed anti-worker legislation through committee in less than 48 hours.
ALEC – the powerful corporate-funded American Legislative Exchange Council – loves Arizona. The group wants to turn this already right-to-work-for-less state into the most anti-worker one in the nation. With a tea party-dominated Legislature doing ALEC’s bidding, it’s on its way.
Last Wednesday, the Republican-controlled Senate passed several bills out of committee that eliminate collective bargaining entirely and all-but eradicate workers’ rights to organize. Another proposed measure ends payroll deductions for voluntary contributions to a union’s political action fund – something already declared unconstitutional by a judge last year.
These deceptive, corporate-sponsored bills were drafted by ALEC and its Phoenix affiliate, the Goldwater Institute. Fifty out of 90 of the state’s legislators are ALEC or Goldwater Institute members.
If you think Wisconsin’s union busting law was bad, Arizona’s is even worse. Police officers and fire fighters aren’t exempted from Arizona’s legislation, as they were in Wisconsin. These bills will devastate 911 dispatchers and public safety officers and the vital services they provide.
“This is a battle for our existence and we’re not going to let them muzzle our voice,” says Frank Piccioli, a Phoenix 911 dispatcher and president of AFSCME Local 2960. “We are the first of the first responders. We are there when someone is having a heart attack, when a child is drowning, when a life is in peril. Politicians doing ALEC’s bidding are turning their backs on the citizens of Arizona and hurting the very people who save lives.”
Emergency dispatchers field approximately 1.5 million calls a year with ever-dwindling staff and resources, Piccioli points out. Despite being paid 19 percent less in wages, “we have made compromises and wage concessions because we want to be part of the solution. We are not the problem. But we are demonized because of a political agenda. This is not about saving taxpayer money. This is about wiping out unions and destroying the middle class.”
The climate in Arizona may well be receptive to ALEC-inspired legislation, but citizens are becoming increasingly alarmed by the extreme policies crafted by corporate special interests. Last year, anti-worker candidates for mayor and council in Phoenix were defeated. Residents apparently value the hard work and dedication of public service workers and agree with the decision of city officials to work with them.
AFSCME has launched an online campaign featuring a video and open letter calling on Gov. Jan Brewer to stop attacking teachers, fire fighters and police and other public service workers. Watch the video below and sign the letter here: http://AttackingUnionsDoesNotCreateJobs.com.
