Sec.-Treas. Saunders: ‘We're the Last Line of Defense’ for the Middle Class

by Clyde Weiss  |  June 07, 2011

WASHINGTON, DC – AFSCME Sec.-Treas. Lee A. Saunders, addressing hundreds of activists at our State Battles Summit this morning, declared that “corporate-backed politicians are trying to pull us apart rather than bring us together. It’s about power – pure and simple.”

 “As a union of public service employees, we are the guardians of every community,” Saunders said in his keynote address. “And that is precisely why we’re under attack. We’re the last line of defense against the culture of greed that rivals the worst abuses of the Roaring ‘20s.”

The summit, which began Monday, has brought together AFSCME leaders and rank-and-file members from throughout the country to learn about the threats to the Middle Class – including the basic right of workers to improve their jobs and livelihoods through collective bargaining – and form a ‘Main Street Movement.’ They also learned about successful efforts waged by AFSCME activists to fight back in Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Wisconsin and other states.

U.S. Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee, told attendees, “You are on the front lines during these tough economic times.” Because of Wall Street greed, he noted, “you’re seeing a full-scale assault on some of the critical safety nets” that public service workers provide. “We need to hang in there together” to repeal anti-worker laws and to recall lawmakers in Wisconsin and other states who have voted against worker rights.

State Battles Summit attendees also learned, through a video entitled “Stop the Lies,” about the myths being spread by right-wing ideologues about public service workers.