Public Sector Under Attack

In Missouri, Indiana and far beyond, anti-worker politicians are joining President Bush and the majority in Congress in an all-out assault on our wages, benefits, rights and more.

Never before have those in public service been under such attack: Our jobs cut or threatened, our rights trampled on, our pensions on the chopping block. George W. Bush started all that when he took office in 2001, and he has picked up the pace in his second term. Now disciples of Bush's anti-worker philosophy — especially newly minted Republican governors — have joined in.

Arch-conservatives have long disdained people who work for government and provide public services — as well as their unions. Their agenda is simple: to privatize our jobs and the services we provide and to dismantle the public sector. Their tactic: to reduce the political power of working families by undermining America's unions.

Public employee unions are now the prime target. Why? Because we fight against corporate greed, as well as the rich and the powerful, at every turn.

Newly elected governors in Indiana and Missouri did away with hard-won collective bargaining rights and are refusing to honor existing worker contracts; Kentucky's governor did the same one year ago. In Oklahoma, the business community is trying to keep employees of its largest cities from bargaining collectively under a new state law.

Meanwhile, privatization is on the march. Anti-worker politicians are going after our retirement as well. President Bush is pressing a risky scheme to substitute private accounts for a portion of the hugely successful Social Security system. A dozen states are examining ways to discontinue pension plans that guarantee a livable level of benefits. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) announced his intention to do just that. Fortunately, fierce resistance from AFSCME and our allies forced him to back down (see Page 12). In these pages we highlight these attacks and AFSCME's efforts to fight back.