The Big Business-backed “Employee Freedom Week,” which ran from August 10 to 16, was merely an attempt to turn public opinion against unions and convince workers to vote against their own interests, writes Connecticut AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer and IAM member Lori Pelletier.
Ads in support of the “freedom week” sham appeared in Connecticut and across the country, trying to convince home healthcare workers to opt out of their unions after the Supreme Court’s anti-labor decision in Harris v. Quinn.
“This is a thinly-veiled attempt to convince these workers to act against their own self-interest, and could have lethal repercussions in an industry where collective bargaining rights have not only alleviated home health aides’ difficult working conditions, but also have helped prolong their patients’ lives,” wrote Pelletier in a recent op-ed for Connecticut NewsJunkie.
“Employee Freedom Week” was also aimed at expanding support for so-called “right-to-work” laws, which weaken unions and suppress workers’ rights.
“We know that in order to rebuild Connecticut’s middle class, we need to be creating opportunity for ordinary working people, not tearing down their chances for higher wages and safe working conditions,” wrote Pelletier. “Leaders in our state and city governments have come together to fight our state’s growing income inequality, using strategies proven to work in Connecticut — increasing the tax rate for Connecticut’s top earners, opening up more slots in preschool for children from low-income households, and focusing on job growth.”
Click here to read Pelletier’s full op-ed, entitled “On Wall Street, ‘Right to Work’ Means a Wider Gap Between Rich and Poor.”
