‘I AM VOTING,’ a message from Tom Buffenbarger
October 28, 2010
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How many of your friends, family and neighbors are jobless? How many are working part-time or for lower wages because that’s the only job they could find? And how many citizens of your state have simply stopped looking?
Nationally, 31 million Americans have been idled by this Grave Recession. Some have been looking for work for over two years. And some, who call themselves 99ers, have run out of unemployment benefits.
From factory floors to office suites and airport tarmacs, management is using the massive pool of unemployed as a “productivity” incentive. Squeezing more work out of fewer workers is the newest strategy. Abusive attitudes proliferate.
Even state governments find a silver lining in this jobs crisis. Using stimulus monies and disaster relief funds, states like Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina are waving tons of cash in front of corporations to relocate entire facilities to their states. They promote their states as a union-free, right-to-work (for less) environment.
To battle such state-sponsored greenmail, states like Kansas and Wisconsin make counteroffers to keep the jobs and facilities. And unions like ours face demands for costly concessions to sweeten those counteroffers in order to save jobs.
If this happened once or twice, it might be a coincidence. But it has also happened in Arizona, New Mexico, Illinois and Pennsylvania. Corporations are auctioning our jobs off to the highest bidders.
There’s only one way to stop this pernicious practice: Go vote on November 2nd! Let us vote for governors who will protect our jobs. Let us vote for members of Congress who will fight to end this jobs crisis.
