“Fighting to Keep Good
Jobs for American Workers”
By Region 8 Webmaster and Local 2195 Editor John Davis
“Fighting to Keep Good Jobs for American Workers”
is the theme of the 2004 UAW Community Action Program Legislative Conference,
and it is a fight indeed. This idea was evident from the opening moments
as National CAP Director Richard Long called the conference to order
at 5:00 PM on Sunday, February 01, 2004 at the Wardman Park Marriott
in Washington, D.C. A total of 1498 delegates from all across the country
have assembled in our Nation’s Capital to discuss the issues facing
America’s working families. Keeping good jobs for those families
is at the top of a laundry list of issues facing labor and working families.
Health care, education, worker’s rights, unfair trade agreements,
and the loss of the manufacturing sector are wreaking havoc on working
families. Make no mistake; it is a fight – a fight that we cannot
afford to lose. It is a fight whose first battle will be reclaiming
the White House.
The Bush Presidency has from the onset been a direct threat to working
Americans. Three year into President Bush’s term the numbers are
a sobering revelation of where his prioritizes lie. Republican’s
favorite slogan is the “Democrats only know tax and spend.”
However, this is just one of many instances of an adminstration that
has said one thing and did the other.
The past three years have seen the greatest fiscal turnaround in our
nation’s history. At the conclusion of President Clinton’s
term there were budget surpluses left in the country’s budget.
Not only have those surpluses evaparted, but we saw a deficit of $374
billion dollars last year. In addition, the U.S. is projected to grow
the national debut between $400 and 650 billion dollars a year for the
next ten years, resulting in a national debt of $5 trillion dollars.
The Bush administration blames the fiscal downfall on the terrorist
attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. This act has played a role in the reversal
of fortunes in our budget situation. However, the bulk of the losses
are directly tied to the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts. Projections have
these give backs to wealthy at $3 trillion dollars over a ten year span.
The 2004 cost of the tax cuts are more than three times the cost of
the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and
homeland security cost combined. As a result of these budget deficits,
the Bush Administration has set about slashing funding to vital domestic
programs. Social Security, education, Medicare, and veteran’s
care are examples of programs that have seen the axe in their funding
dollars.
President Bush has stated that the tax cuts were necessary to stimuate
the economy. However, the truth is that more than 3.3 million jobs have
been lost during the Bush Administration, with over 2.5 million of those
coming within the manufacturing sector.
So why hasn’t the tax cuts improved the economy? That is simple
– it has been the distribution of the tax cuts that have prevented
any economic growth. The top 1 percent of taxpayers received more than
a third of this tax benefit. The 2003 tax cut bill alone meant savings
of more than $100,000 in a single year to millionaires while working
families received a $400 child credit. If the idea of a tax cut is to
encourage spending, then the Bush Tax Cut can be compared to pouring
water in a bucket that is already full.
To add insult to injury, the Bush Administration is currently proposing
another round of tax cuts to corporations that includes incentives to
move production and jobs out of the country.
The Bush Presidency is the first since Hubert Hoover to have lost jobs.
His legacy includes an average job loss of 200,000 a month since he
took office. Currently, the President is proposing the Free Trade Area
of the Americas to expanding NAFTA to the entire southern hemisphere.
In addition, plans call for trade deals with Taiwan and the Middle East.
However, no one could ever accuse the President of not being able to
multi-task. While he paves the way for corporations to run out of the
country with jobs in exchange for tax breaks, he has also been hard
at work attacking U.S. worker’s rights. Again the current administration
has been hard at work eliminating OSHA ergonomics standards, cutting
pollution standards, eliminating work rules, denying the right to organize
to 250,000 federal workers and slashing funding to displaced workers.
The event of modern medicine has been a blessing to man in the 20th
century. However, the greed of pharmaceutical companies has placed a
barrier on these modern miracles. Health care is a right, not a privilege
and everyone should be able to share in these modern day marvels. But,
the Bush Administration’s answer to the problems of the rising
cost of health care is to shift the operation from Medicare to the private
sector with virtually no benefit for working Americans. In the past
calendar year over 1,000,000 additional children have slipped below
the poverty line, with another 1,000,000 Americans joining the ranks
of the uninsured.
America’s working families are well aware of the major issues
this election year. The issues are health care, education, worker’s
rights and a promise of the future. Each of these issues are directly
tied to jobs; jobs that pay a living wage and provide the security through
a benefit package that guarantees the necessary health care to make
certain that our children are provided for.
Yes, this is definitely a fight – a fight to keep good jobs for
America’s workers. This is what the 2004 CAP Legislative Conference
is about. The odds have been stacked against and this could be a last
stand for America’s working families. It is not too late to turn
things around so we have a future and our children have a future, but
the line must be drawn now. No longer can wait on someone else to fight
the battle for us, for the war is at our doorstep. It is time to come
together to make a difference and that starts at the polling place.
History tells us of those millions of lives that have been lost to preserve
our right to vote. When we fail to cast our ballot, then we fail to
honor those sacrifices. UAW pioneer Walter Reuther often stated, “The
bread box and the ballot box are tied together.” He also stated
that it doesn’t matter what you win at the bargaining table, if
they are allowed to legislate it away within the halls of Washington.
This last fight must be fought in the halls of Washington. It is time
to remind our elected officials who they represent and why. We should
also send them a message that if they don’t represent us, then
come this fall we wont represent them. Join the fight – the fight
to keep good jobs for American workers. The first step of that fight
is reclaiming the White House.
The 2004 National CAP Legislative Conference will resume at 8:45AM on
February 02, 2004. Region 8 member Vivian Crane of Local 1413 will begin
the day by offering the invocation. The schedule includes an opening
address by UAW President Ron Gettelfinger, followed be presentations
by the Legislative Department and a Media Panel discussion. Each Region
will break away for lunch with members of their Congressional members,
with Radio Host Jim Hightower and Berkeley University Professor of Education
Harley Shaiken.
