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“I
am now a proud American with a vote and a voice,” said former Canadian
and first-time U.S. voter Bill Hoogenhout, a US Airways aircraft
technician of Local 1725 in Charlotte, NC. “I urge every American to use
their vote.” Leading the list of offenses is the outrageous 9-11 airline bailout bill that distributed $5 billion in immediate cash assistance to airline executives without providing any aid for hard-hit airline workers. The same legislation created the Air Transportation Stabilization Board (ATSB), a federal agency staffed with Bush’s political appointees who guided the government’s campaign to gut pay and pensions at the nation’s largest airlines.
Rail Talks Held Hostage Rail workers also faced Bush appointees with anti-union agendas. The National Mediation Board’s refusal to resolve a stalemate at the nation’s Class 1 freight rail carriers holds rail workers hostage to the terms of a five-year-old contract. Other administration appointees are pressing for privatization of the nation’s passenger rail system, a move that threatens thousands of rail workers’ jobs.
Corporate Assaults Corporate America’s assault on collective bargaining rights began shortly after the presidential election in 2000. Within months, Bush Administration officials joined forces with airline industry lobbyists to push for legislation that would replace collective bargaining with forced arbitration and give government officials the right to impose contract terms on union members.
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