Battling the Budget Blues

Take Back America!

With combined state deficits of more than $85 billion, labor and the public sector — and all workers and their families — are at serious risk.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

While labor made some gains last November — such as the election of key pro-worker governors — some of our toughest battles ever lie ahead. Anti-worker legislative majorities at the state and federal level will try to cut taxes for the rich, make harsh reductions in public services, coddle corporations, roll back civil rights and balance budget deficits on the backs of public employees.

With combined state deficits of more than $85 billion, labor and the public sector — and all workers and their families — are at serious risk.

That's why the International Union is launching a new campaign to defend the public sector and advance our agenda for economic, retirement and health care security.

The name given the campaign could not be more appropriate: Take Back America. Its goals are straightforward — to make sure that state and local governments do not balance their budgets by cutting needed services and hurting public employees.

At the heart of this national initiative is an unprecedented member mobilization aimed at producing bold new solutions to the budget crises and building an even stronger union in advance of the 2004 elections.

To accomplish those goals, the International and the affiliates are teaming up to an extraordinary degree.

BUILDING STRATEGIES. President McEntee announced the Take Back America Campaign at a December conference that brought together more than 250 leaders to discuss strategies for building our political power for 2004 and winning tough contract and budget fights in the months ahead. Said McEntee, "Both the political and financial crises mean that we can no longer afford to conduct business as usual."

The International Union will work with affiliates to mount campaigns at the state and local level to fight for more funding for public services and public-sector jobs, and to hold lawmakers accountable for their budget-cutting actions. This effort will energize the entire union, preparing it to elect a pro-worker President and Congress in 2004.

In addressing the December conference, McEntee did not minimize the challenges facing the campaign. "We've got a very heavy lift ahead of us," he declared, "one of the heaviest — economically and financially — that has ever faced our union. ... We will stand up. We will keep fighting. And we will take back America."

While the International and its affiliates craft the Take Back America campaign, AFSCME leaders at the state and local levels have been designing their own alternatives to sweeping budget cuts. Three examples:

ILLINOIS

Council 31 has been waging a heroic, exemplary fight to stave off layoffs. Now, at least, the council will deal with a sympathetic governor — newly elected Rod Blagojevich — and Senate and House majorities that will be responsive to ideas for sensible solutions.

Pressuring those pols to restore the budget cuts, hundreds of AFSCME members rallied at the capitol in November to protest the closing of correctional facilities, mental health centers and homes for the developmentally disabled. The resulting overcrowding in prisons alarms Rob Fanti, a counselor at the Sheridan Corrections Center, which was shut down. He has been personally lobbying state legislators with letters and petitions signed by co-workers.

The council is also considering a few revenue-raising ideas: decoupling state estate and business taxes from federal rules; closing corporate tax loopholes; and raising the state income tax.

FLORIDA

Questionable budget items like a "bullet" train and a new court system have inflated this state's budget gap. So, too, have a cumulative $6 billion in tax cuts enacted during Gov. Jeb Bush's first four years in office. "It's scary," says Council 79 Pres. and International Vice Pres. Jeanette Wynn. "But with government services at risk, we just can't roll over."

Among the ideas being explored by the council are legislative initiatives to put the state pension fund in a better position, close corporate tax loopholes and end tax breaks for the rich. "I'd also like to see state employees sit on review boards and play an active role in deciding how we can cut costs and deliver services more efficiently," Wynn adds.

NEW YORK

In Buffalo, where workers at the local level are dealing with the same issues that plague many states, garbage and recyclables collectors are facing privatization. To counter the city's claims of cost savings if services are privatized, Local 264 (Council 35) has offered some options. One calls for savings of up to $1.35 million — almost twice the amount projected by privatizing the system — by integrating seasonal workers into the permanent workforce. Another calls for shrinking eight garbage districts to five. "By shrinking, no one gets laid off," says Local 264 Pres. Bill McGuire. "We'd be making better use of equipment and saving money on overtime. We're coming up with ideas of our own."

— Jon Melegrito