Another Double Cross at National Nuclear Security Administration of the Department of Energy

When a government agency decides to do a dirty deed the evening before a holiday, you know it’s not going to be good. So, when NNSA/DOE revealed on Good Friday that it intends to award a combined contract to run the Oak Ridge Y-12 National Security Complex and the Amarillo Pantex Nuclear Weapons Plant without requiring the winning private contractor to use the incumbent workforce, it was clear it was something they’re not proud of. The decision didn’t surface in the mainstream media, and that was just what they hoped.  

Maybe it was the choice of words (“giving contractors flexibility”) that aroused our suspicion. Flexibility has become a buzzword for employers who don’t like such “rigid” requirements as fair wages, pensions, decent working conditions, making safety a high priority or allowing workers a voice on the job.  

As our Oak Ridge, Tennessee, Atomic Trades and Labor Council President Garry Whitley pointed out: It doesn’t make good economic sense to toss aside a trained and experienced workforce in the first place. If the winning bidder decides to hire off the street, he’ll be trading off immediate efficiency—no learning curve—to save a couple of bucks on wages. And, what does that matter? Not much, unless the workforce is working around nuclear material and highly classified sensitive data—which they are. Can you imagine the consequences of a major nuclear incident caused by someone inexperienced mishandling highly radioactive nuclear material? Or a security breach involving highly classified plans and documents that could compromise our nation’s nuclear weapons program?  

The NNSA decision to scrap the practice of successor hiring breaks more than 50 years of past practice and it gives a sour taste to the concept of Labor Management “partnership” that the White House has been touting in its own personnel relations. There was no phone call or warning that this was coming down.  

Our present relationship with the Department of Energy is at best, strained. We can’t get a straight answer about their heavy-handed implementation of DOE Directive 351.1 (their regulation that gives contractors every incentive to end defined benefit pension plans in favor of 401 (K) plans). DOE denies that they have interfered with collective bargaining, on pensions, but our experience says otherwise.  

Another suspicious development—DOE’s budget proposal contains extensive plans for changing accounting processes for pensions. But, the information is so well camouflaged that it is impossible to tell whether it’s another ruse to cheat the workforce or actually what they claim it is.  

That, brothers and sisters is exactly the point: when it comes to communication between unions and management, DOE’s credibility is zilch. This latest move simply confirms our suspicions. They do not want an experienced skilled workforce; they want the disposable, throwaway variety.  NNSA/DOE has taken a page from the “Wally World” Human Resources manual—always the low price…and, if that’s the course they have chosen—they’ve got a fight on their hands.

Making Sausage

Being an old country boy from the hills of Arkansas, I know a lot about making sausage. I’ve made some this year at home. It is messy and requires a lot of preparation, but the end result—fresh, tasty home-made sausage—is worth it.

Last night I watched the Democrats finally stand (almost) united and pass health care. It wasn’t exactly what I wanted, or a perfect bill. It is a compromise that is a lot better than the status quo. It doesn’t achieve universal coverage. It doesn’t do a lot of things I wanted to see in a health care reform bill, but it is a vast improvement over the preset system of allowing the insurance industry to monopolize health care without any meaningful oversight or regulation to protect our citizens. 

Every U.S. President since Teddy Roosevelt has talked about trying to fix health care. Seven Democrats—Franklin Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, Carter, Clinton and now Obama, proposed concrete plans to fix the healthcare industry, but until now they all failed. Every time ANYONE tried, there were merciless attacks by the business community, the insurance lobby, the healthcare industry and the US Chamber of Commerce. Opponents of health care reform poured obscene amounts of money into campaigns to block reform. After the “Harry and Louise” industry TV campaign against the Clinton health care reform, I didn’t think anyone would ever take them on again in my lifetime. Last night not a single Republican voted for anything. Every single member of that political party voted in lock step as obstructionists. They were all the hand maidens of the Healthcare Lobby. I was mad as hell at the 34 Democrats that voted with the Republicans. I had helped many of those Democrats in their elections.

But here I am PO’ed at these 34 Democrats, and at the same time what about the Party of NO? At least under the big tent of the Democratic Party, there is room for members of Congress to vote differently from the leadership. Is that allowed by the Republicans? Hell no.

I have been railing against the Republican party because it demands total control, blind allegiance and total party discipline. Does that make me a hypocrite for then criticizing the 34 Democrats who voted against the Health Care Reform? If you look objectively at this (and it is hard) at least this highlights the major difference between Republican and Democrats. One is actually delivering the change the voters demanded in the last election, while the other wants to ignore the 2008 election as if it never happened.

The majority of voters demanded change and they are angry when it has taken so long to get it. Now, maybe the rest of the changes we want are beginning to happen as well.

Our system of government moves slow, it is messy, can be nasty and is a lot like making sausage. The animal is killed before the entire nation, gutted, cut up in pieces in town hall meetings and criticized by the most vocal activists who are hostile to anyone who doesn’t agree with them. The meat is then publically ground up in hearings, speeches, TV ads, and paid political PR campaigns. Spices and flavorings are argued over. Competing recipes are trashed, berated, and down right insulted by the different cooks on the floor of the chambers. Then different members throw in special private secret spices. And, finally after all that hostility and hot debates, the bill is voted up or down. Just like making home-made sausage.

Pay to Fight: Making War Pay

Last November, Rep. David Obey (D-WI) made a suggestion that bears serious consideration. In the face of the then-pending troop surge in Afghanistan, Obey proposed a “war tax” amounting to a 5 percent surcharge on high incomes and lower percentages for low-income taxpayers to underwrite the $40 billion a year cost of that surge. With the exception of our courageous and recently departed friend, the late John Murtha (D-PA), Mr. Obey’s proposal got no traction whatsoever.

Now, as we hear a clamor of concern over America’s growing budget deficit, especially from conservative Republicans in Congress, it’s time to resurrect Mr. Obey’s proposal.

I recall right after George W. Bush declared his vaunted “global war on terror” and reporters asked him how Americans might show their commitment to that war effort and demonstrate their patriotism. Bush’s response was classic: “Go shopping,” he said. Well, going shopping and buying more Chinese made goods hasn’t worked out so well.

What’s happened to America? Most of us heard our parents and grandparents describe the sacrifices they made during World War II. From rationing eggs, meat and milk, scrap collections, victory gardens, war bond drives and rationing gasoline for their cars—America had a near universal outpouring of support for the troops on the frontlines. Sure, there were some cheaters, but the overwhelming attitude was solidarity and sacrifice for the cause. That’s why, when World War II ended, America became the breadbasket for the devastated economies of Europe and Asia. That’s how American influence helped Japan transition from a monarchy to a democracy. That’s how America was able to fund the Marshall Plan to help create European economies that were even more productive than they had been before the war destroyed them.

Not long ago, a popular beer adopted an advertising slogan that went something like: “Who says you can’t have it all?” That slogan is a perfect reflection of the pandering expectations that too many politicians from both political parties practice today. It’s also the essence of Reaganomics. It assures us: “You can have a $1 trillion-plus expenditure on defense and security (23 percent of total government spending), another $3 trillion on health and education, consumer protection and law enforcement. You can fight wars half way across the globe, protect your shores, secure your transportation systems, keep food and drugs safe, while leaving no child behind and, oh, if we run a little short, just put it on the credit card.” Don’t blame that attitude on Obama—it originated even before Reagan, but his administration perfected it.

Today, the tea baggers say, we don’t need any government besides defense and security. We hear these Right Wingers screaming that any new spending program has to be paid for with a cut somewhere else.

Okay, let’s use that same thought on any war we fight.

Let’s pay for it with a temporary tax that runs the duration of the war….Talk about an incentive for an “exit strategy”, that would be the greatest peace incentive in history. The Lefty Liberals say, we can do away with defense and security, but we need to spend even more on the other 75 percent of government. But, you don’t hear many from either side say: If you’ll tell us exactly what these programs will cost, we’ll gladly pay our fair share.

Then there are the corporations and super rich: They say, make sure the nation is “friendly to business” and “secure enough” for commerce, but let the suckers pay. Corporations think they’re doing their part with their political contributions and under the table payoffs to maintain the status quo.

Fast forward to 2010: Lot’s of people proclaim their support for the troops with yellow ribbons on their bumpers. I’m sure the troops appreciate the gesture, but come on, what does it mean? Do those yellow ribbons mean you’re willing to pay for full funding for VA hospitals and VA benefits? To pay to build the ships, planes, weapons and material that the troops need to carry out their mission?

No, Mr. and Mrs. America, we can’t “have it all,” but we can have what we’re willing to pay for. And, if we don’t think it’s worthwhile to pay a tax to pursue a global war on terror, we can let the politicians know that, too.

We don’t need a deficit commission, we need a reality check and we need it now.

Patience

The blizzards of "Snowmegaladon" have me suffering (like most of the Mid Atlantic region) from cabin fever. I have the TV on and noticed that several CNN stories have been devoted to billboard ads against President Obama. One in Montana has former President Bush with a big smirk on his face captioned: "Do you miss me yet?" Another is in Wisconsin with the Caption "Impeach Obama"… "America's small businesses are failing"…paid for by an attorney who isn't a small business. Seems like America has a very short memory. The first year has been a bit rocky as the recession President Obama inherited keeps deepening (even though nearly every economist predicted that unemployment wouldn't bottom out until the spring of 2010 and that it would remain high through 2012.)

Is it fair? Is it even realistic to think we could come out of the greatest economic disaster since the Great Depression this soon? Remember, this catastrophe was caused by the de-regulators in the anti-government Right Wing.

Meanwhile, the defenders of the status quo and big Wall Street bankers have banded together to block President Obama's cabinet appointments (the highest number of Congressional holds in the history of America.)

Their strategy is pretty obvious. They just say "NO" to everything and create total political gridlock, then blame the President for not doing anything. Both sides are aware that the vast number of Americans are angry that they don't have jobs, can't pay the mortgage, can't afford gas to fuel up the car and warm their homes and will blame the party in power come election day. Most of these Republicans are in safe Republican districts and not likely to be touched in the next election, so they feel safe by being obstructionists.

There are enough southern and western Right Wing Conservative Democrats that frequently vote with the Republicans because they share the exact same political philosophy to block the will of the majority by using parliamentary procedures in Congress. So, passing sweeping laws in Congress is something that President Obama isn't going to be able to do. Forget that. It isn't going to happen until enough Americans get fed up with the body of Congress and wholesale replace them…and I don't see that happening in my lifetime. For some reason that defies logic, most voters blame Congress as a whole but not their own Senators and Congressman or woman. They curse the rain for being wet!

So let's look at exactly what the President can and has done within his powers to do independent of this "Just Say No Congress."

His appointments, by and large, look pretty much like mainstream America: women, Hispanics, Asians, Caucasians, Blacks, and members of the opposition party…He has issued Executive Orders that correct decades of waste, fraud and abuse of federal contracting. Despite the sniping from his critics, President Obama has blocked all terrorists attacks, and there are no headlines saying "Thousands of Americans have died from Swine Flu."

But President Obama doesn't get any credit for doing a good job preparing the nation for a deadly pandemic and marshalling the world to produce an effective vaccine against this new deadly strain of flu. Obama didn't allow the swine flu to become his "Katrina." Did the President get any credit for saving untold thousand of American lives? No, but he would have gotten the blame had we not developed an effective vaccine and vaccinated a very large population center that stopped the pandemic in its tracks.

We hear a lot of bad press about the stimulus bill not creating millions of new jobs. Okay, how about the thousands of workers who didn't get laid off? Do their jobs count? The police, fire departments, school teachers, and public safety personnel whose jobs were saved as a result of stimulus money going to the state governments?

No one wants to talk about the jobs NOT lost. You hear that only 25-30 jobs were created in the construction industry by building a bridge across a highway. What about the thousands of jobs in the steel mills that produced the steel used in the bridge; or the concrete manufacturers that made the concrete that went into the bridge; or the factory that produced the paint used to paint the exposed steel portions of the bridge; or the electrical supply house that supplied the wiring and lights for the bridge? One thing most folks don't understand: construction projects need good weather for maximum efficiency. Why do you think you see so much construction taking place in spring and summer? This spring we will see the maximum effect from the stimulus bill on public projects.

Before any major project is undertaken—it takes time to write contracts, secure bids, evaluate and score the bids, then award the successful contractor the work. After all that takes place, then and only then, are the first workers hired. It takes months before the first shovel full of dirt is turned after the stimulus bill was passed. Patience is something missing in the American voting public.

Protectionist Legislation, The Jones Act

Ron Ault,
President
Metal Trades Department, AFL-CIO

Sometime I feel like Don Quixote, tilting at windmills. Fighting against the U.S. federal government, the combined might of four giant, multi-national corporations, the Maritime Labor Organizations, the U.S. Ship owners and a lot of heavy political hitters in the Philadelphia region could make you feel slightly paranoid. My wife tells me she wants me to increase my life insurance policy…such was the case last Thursday, April 17, 2008, when we appeared in Philadelphia federal district court in our lawsuit (PMTC v. Allen, et al.) against the U.S. Coast Guard whacky interpretation of the Jones Act that reverses the original intent of Congress and is plainly at odds with the requirements of the law. This is our third consecutive federal lawsuit against the Bush Administration on behalf of America’s workers.

Our lawsuit is really simple- The U.S. Coast Guard is allowing Aker Philadelphia Shipyard (we represent the workers) to partner with HMD (Hyundai Mipo Dockyards South Korean Shipyards) and jointly build the U.S. double hull Product Tankers (oil tankers). Aker basically builds most of the outer hull of these ships while HMD builds or buys everything else in South Korea and ships it over prefabricated and assembled to Aker Philadelphia Shipyard. Since we filed our lawsuit, General Dynamics National Steel Shipyard has developed a similar partnership with Daewoo South Korean shipyards also using South Korean prefabricated preassembled kit ships. This is contrary to the clear and plain language of the Jones Act.

The Jones Act (as described by the Coast Guard and its Justice Department lawyers) is an 80 year old “protectionist law” that protects American shipbuilding, American crews and American ship owners from foreign competition for port-to-port, U.S. coastal trade. The Jones Act requires U.S. flagged ships to be manufactured in the USA, assembled entirely in the USA, crewed by U.S. crews and owned by U.S. citizens. The purpose of the Jones Act isd to insure a robust U.S. Merchant Marine and U.S. Shipbuilding Industry in the event of national emergencies. For 80 years ships built for the Jones Act were made in the USA and assembled entirely in the USA. “PMTC v. Allen” is the first federal Jones Act lawsuit over the building of a U.S. vessel in the history of the Jones Act. Why? Because this is the first time anyone has “interpreted” the Jones Act to allow Hyundai Mipo Dockyards to build the guts of the ship, assemble all these foreign parts in their massive South Korea shipyards in huge “modules” of completed systems (hydraulics systems, Engine room systems, compressed air systems, complete deck winches and cranes with motors, cable and electrical controls, brake assemblies, etc. all painted and piped up, ready to operate. No U.S. assembly required.

I was saddened to witness the U.S. Department of Justice aggressively defending the Coast Guard’s actions in this case in federal court. One argument I heard was that the Coast Guard was advancing two of its three interests under the Jones Act by fostering a robust US Merchant Marine and a US Shipping interest at the expense of US Shipbuilding. The government indicated to the judge that the cost of building a ship in the US would be too high if it were built entirely in the US and that the Coast Guard had been making rules for many years that allowed U.S. Shipbuilders to use foreign parts to build Jones Act ships. They argued that these Korean built modules of completed assemblies (some weighing several tons and as big as 60 feet by 40 feet) were merely “parts” under the Coast Guard interpretation and as long as they were lowered into a hull in the U.S. for final “assembly” they met the requirements of the Jones Act. The Justice Department attorneys went on to argue that the Union should be happy that we are getting any work on new construction, that if we are successful in our lawsuit it might become too expensive to build Jones Act ships in the USA. And if the judge did find all this just too much to swallow, that she had to give deference to the Coast Guard’s interpretation of “manufactured in the USA and assembled entirely in the U.S.” unless she found that interpretation so outrageous as it was completely contrary to the law.

Why? Why is the Bush Administration so anti “Made in the U.S.A.” that they would go to such extremes as to disadvantage American business and reduce our national defense capabilities? This Administration has chosen again and again to give preference to foreign suppliers over American business:
• Sikorsky Aviation in New York was the lead defense contractor to build the new presidential helicopter (the next President will ride in it). However, the Bush Administration selected a European consortium headed up by an Italian corporation for the contract. Sikorsky’s helicopter was determined to be a better and safer helicopter than the Italian helicopter, but that did not matter. Neither did the requirements of Title 10, the “Buy American Act” that require goods and services for the U.S. military be purchased “made in the U.S.A.” whenever possible. This “Presidential Helicopter” is a military helicopter. In fact, under Bush the “Buy American Act” has been waived so often it is essentially unenforced. We buy our electronic chips for Navy sonar buoys from Communist China (funny, we can’t detect Chinese submarines with them), M-16 .223 ammo from Israel and other foreign countries while we lay off Remington ammo workers in Loneoak, Arkansas, and—still in today’s headlines—the European Airbus $4 billion initial contract for airborne refueling tankers (with an additional 40 billion dollars of contract options). In fact, we buy so much of our military hardware and supplies from foreign sources that we have lost the ability for a war time industrial surge capacity in America. America would not be able to defend herself if our foreign sources refused to sell us these essential manufactured military goods. We do not have stockpiles of these supplies any more…because we practice “just in time inventory”…- In the event of a shooting war, if our defense materials are not delivered in time we would have no choice but surrender our nation or pull the all out nuclear trigger of Armageddon. There is a passage in the Bible that says “there will be wars and rumors of war until the end of time.”

80 years ago a far sighted and patriotic Congress foresaw such a possibility and declared that it was in America’s strategic interests to have a robust U.S. Shipbuilding industry to protect our island nation in time of national emergency. They passed and the President signed the Jones Act into a law that has served this nation well. Indeed, shipyards are our nation’s defense arsenal. Obviously, the Coast Guard has lost sight of that purpose, we’re hopeful that the courts will put them back on the right track.
# # #

Let Freedom Ring

Ron Ault,
President
Metal Trades Department, AFL-CIO

On March 1, 2008, the U.S.S. New York, LPD-21, will be commissioned in an elaborate, traditional Naval ceremony capped by a bottle of champagne breaking across her expansive bow at Northrop Grumman Avondale Shipyard in New Orleans, Louisiana. 7.5 tons of steel taken from the World Trade Center wreckage is cast into her majestic bow. The image of that cowardly terrorist attack is forever superimposed into the American psyche. It is poetic justice that an avenging United States Naval warship should contain as part of its soul, a portion of the destroyed World Trade Center structure that took more than 3,000 innocent lives.

Let Freedom Ring! Nothing could tug at the heart and inflame the national passions of patriotism more than this fitting image. Our members built the USS New York. They put their blood, sweat and expertise as highly skilled shipbuilders into building the USS New York. Working in a noisy, dangerous, heavy industrial environment with high humidity and air temperatures often hovering at or near 100 degrees, our members take hundreds of tons of raw materials, miles of piping, valves and machinery, cast, forge, form, bend steel plate into complex shapes and weld the hulls into sleek, highly complex, modern warships with offensive capabilities unheard of just a few years ago. Our members install and test highly classified, sensitive electronics, advanced weapons and propulsion systems in these 21st century naval warships.

Our Metal Trades Council members have built, overhauled and converted thousands of such advanced Navy ships over the past 100 years and we are justifiably proud of the craftsmanship and quality of these ships as they steam out of our shipyards and take their place in the fleet protecting our nation. We know they are the finest and most capable such ships in the world, because we build every ship knowing full well that it will be our Sons and Daughters who sail these ships in harm’s way and fight our nation’s battles.

But there is another untold story hidden in the shadows of the magnificent U.S.S. New York. Meet Mr. J.F. Martinez, a long term employee of NG Avondale shipyard who has worked at Avondale for 29 years. Mr. Martinez is a shipfitter/welder, and a member of Boilermakers, Local Union 1814, one of the affiliated Local Unions of the New Orleans Metal Trades Council, AFL-CIO, the umbrella labor organization that represents all the blue collar workers who build ships at NG Avondale shipyard. Mr. Martinez is a worker who welded the steel from the World Trade Center into the bow of this great warship. “I am very proud that my skills and hard work helped build this great ship and that the steel I welded from the World Trade Center is part of this warship,” said Mr. Martinez. “I used to live in New Orleans East and after Hurricane Katrina destroyed everything I owned, I wondered if I would ever be able to rebuild my life and continue to build ships. It has been so hard and we aren’t there yet.” In fact, Mr. Martinez’s life is anything but normal. Married with two grown Daughters, he is one of the hundreds of thousands of Gulf Coast workers who lost everything they owned, yet have struggled to maintain their dignity and rebuild their lives, while living in a FEMA furnished trailer.

While FEMA is evicting Gulf Coast families out of unsafe Katrina trailers, homeowners insurance is unaffordable and largely unavailable for Gulf Coast residents. Government could help by requiring private insurers to pool risks and resources to provide homeowners insurance and facilitate rebuilding the residential communities destroyed by Katrina and Rita. Government could do a lot to facilitate the reconstruction of the devastation, but it hasn’t. There has been no government coordination and streamlining of the various government agencies and programs into a clearinghouse of help for the hundreds of thousands of our fellow citizens. Just think about where America is today…We are in a major Recession. Foreclosures are at record highs as homeowners join the unemployed and homeless.

The Gulf Coast must be rebuilt. There is no option. The longer we wait, the more it will cost. Rebuilding the Gulf Coast in 2008 is a hundred times a better economic stimulus than the paltry $600 tax rebate program of the Bush Administration (that you and I will have to pay for in taxes next year.) Just stop and think of the economic ripple effect across the entire U.S. economy of tens of thousands of new, good-paying construction jobs rebuilding 740,000 homes and 9,000 business destroyed by Katrina. America would have a booming economy this year; not a recession, doing the right thing by rebuilding the Gulf Coast. Our Government has the power and the ability to appoint a Gulf Coast Reconstruction Czar at the White House level to cut across all agencies and programs. Such a bold and decisive move would draw wide bipartisan support in Congress and could be accomplished in just days, if we had bold and compassionate National leadership.

Are you ready for a booming economy that works for all? It is up to us to demand more than lip service by our politicians. Let Freedom Ring!

“Pop A Top Again”

“Pop a top again
I just got time for one more round
Sit em up my friends
Then I'll be gone
Then you can let some other fool sit down”

Country/Western artist Alan Jackson sings a song about drinking….pretty much a standard C & W signature theme…why is this a topic I am writing about? Let me ask you an important question. Would you give an alcoholic another drink to help his recovery from alcoholism? That is exactly the solution President Bush has proposed for the ailing economy and is pushing through Congress…and not one member of Congress has the guts to stand up and say no to serving this drink to some estimated 200,000,000 voting alcoholics in an election year. What member of Congress wants to be the one that takes the blame for taking away your $600.00 tax rebate?

We need to think this through, logically…to fix the broken U.S. economy and bring us out of recession, the Bush administration is going to add even more national debt (to the tune of billions of dollars) just to give every tax payer $600 to $1000 dollars rebate and then urge us tax payers to go down to the local “Wally World” and spend it; buy a Red Chinese made flat screen TV so the “economy” will get better…duh! I am just a simple country boy from Amity, Arkansas, but it seems to me this is exactly how we got in a recession in the first place!

The credit card, “borrow and spend” Bush government took a trillion dollar surplus and in less than 12 months in office, sunk our nation into a trillion dollar deficit…even a simple country boy like me can add that up and see that totals two trillion dollars of unfunded Bush credit card spending. What was the money spent on?

The number one priority of that spending was to give Bush’s rich political supporters windfall tax breaks. Billionaires like Warren Buffet didn’t need a federal tax rebate, but none of them turned it down.

Bush went to war in Iraq to take out Hussein and when he did, he spent the treasury of our nation like a drunken sailor on liberty with a month’s sea pay in his pocket…and it has never stopped.

Even before the Iraqi war, the Bush administration was borrowing money to support his government spending. His national spending increased every month the war has continued. The U. S. national debt under Bush has increased geometrically and is funded by borrowing the money from foreign nations. Communist China has become a major U.S. lender and is one of the biggest bankers of the Bush government.

Every dime of this unfunded spending has been generated under the leadership of the standard bearers of the “Conservative” wing of the Republican Party: George W. Bush. Tom “the Hammer” DeLay, Vice President, and former Halliburton CEO, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Grover Norquist, Karl Rove, Denny Hastert, Bill Frist, Duke Cunningham, Lindsey Graham, Trent Lott, Haley Barbour, Mark Foley, John Warner, David Vitter, John McCain, Doc Hastings, Ted Stevens, Larry Craig, and the list goes on…In fact, nearly every Republican in each House of Congress—with few and very rare exceptions—marched in lock step with their Party’s leader, George W. Bush. None of the Conservative Republicans in Congress or in the Administration had a problem or voiced real opposition to the ballooning national debt as long as it was being spent on their priorities and not on any “Social Entitlement” programs like public schools, social security, veteran benefits, public health, aid to dependent children, or school lunch programs. Now, since Democrats took back the House and Senate, and are shifting national spending priorities away from the Republican’s war, suddenly we have a “fiscal” crisis in government spending and Bush and his followers are demanding a 50% reduction in federal spending or he will veto it? Does the word “Hypocrisy” come to mind?

Think of this- Do you balance your home budget? Keep your family’s checkbook balanced? How do you do it? Do you just keep maxing out all your credit cards and never send in any payments to the creditors? That is how George W. Bush’s administration and his Republican Congress ran our federal government. Even today, Republican Congressional lawmakers in the House and Senate are blocking any attempts by Democrats to change any of the spending priorities of the Bush Administration.

We can’t run our households the way Bush runs America, can we? We have to limit our family spending and pay our bills or the power companies will turn off our utilities. We either have to get a better job that pays more money or cut back on what we spend.

Bush thinks the recession is a result of you and I maxing out our credit and cutting way back on our consumer spending. Bush thinks giving us more debt and another $600 a year of more credit is a great idea and will fix the recession. You and I will spend a lot more than $600 a year on just the increased price of $3.00 a gallon gas and $4.00 a gallon milk…under George W. Bush’s leadership, the Federal Reserve has dropped interest rates for borrowing all the away down to 3% in an attempt to get the economy going. Giving you more debt and cheaper credit is the way the Republicans think we can borrow our way out of recession. As Alan Jackson sings…Pop a top again! Give us another round, my friend…

Fixing a recession is very, very simple. Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt figured it out in the early 1930’s after Republican President Herbert Hoover’s administration (an uncanny likeness in its economic policies to today’s Bush Administration) had led America into the worst “recession” in history (but it was called The Depression then).

Roosevelt put America back to work by creating millions of blue collar jobs to rebuild public infrastructure. Franklin D. Roosevelt also created a fair system of redistributing America’s national wealth. Roosevelt legalized free trade unions by advocating, supporting and passing the National Labor Relations Act. Roosevelt knew that free trade unions were the most effective way to redistribute wealth from the super rich/big business owners to the average hourly worker, whose work and toil made these owners rich. Under Franklin Roosevelt’s administration workers’ wages and standards of living rose dramatically, public schools and colleges were built to educate millions of the children of the “working class” and union membership in America peaked.

The elite “old” money “ruling class” families hated Franklin D. Roosevelt, and considered him a traitor to his family’s ruling class traditions. The conservatives labeled him a “socialist” and demeaned his depression recovery plans as “entitlement programs.” Businessman and banker Prescott Bush, George W. Bush’s grandfather, was typical. As a businessman, Prescott Bush publicly berated Social Security and vigorously opposed Roosevelt’s legislative programs. By the time he worked his way up to win a Republican Senate seat in Connecticut in 1950, Prescott Bush was considered a rising star among his conservative Republican colleagues.

When George W. Bush came in office the very first Executive Order he signed as President prohibited unions from entering into “Project Labor Agreements” for building large public construction project like the new Interstate 495 Woodrow Wilson bridge across the Potomac River from Virginia to Maryland.

Under George W. Bush’s leadership, every department of the federal government declared an open war on America’s free trade unions. For the past seven years, Bush’s Department of Labor has been prostituted into an anti-labor/anti-worker organization and like the biggest, meanest junkyard dog, Bush has sic’ed it on organized labor and America’s workers. The National Labor Relations Board has become the hand maiden of corporations, and the enemy of America’s workers. The DOL advises employers how to avoid paying hourly workers overtime pay.

No department of the federal government has been exempted from the pro business, anti worker policies. The Right Wing, Think Tank zealots like those of the Heritage Foundation have been assigned by President Bush to take over every aspect of the federal government and to systematically dismantle every program President Franklin D. Roosevelt built.

The Bush recession and his war on America’s middle class are the direct result of his politically driven, Neo-Conservative policies made possible by the aid and support of the Republican Members of Congress. These unrelenting seven years of attacks by Bush and his cronies, have resulted in the greatest unfair distribution of wealth in the history of our nation and has systematically destroyed what free trade unions created—the American Middle Class. Today, there are only two classes in America; the “Haves” and the “Have Not’s.” That will not change until we change the mission of government back to the clear vision of our founding Fathers—that the federal government’s mission is to provide essential goods and services to its citizens.

A vote for Republicans in the November 2008 General Election is a vote to stay the present course of government and give George W. Bush’s vision of federal government a third four year term…..or America can vote to change the direction of our nation. Only you can make that happen. If we listen to the dishonest-dirty tricks “Swift Boat” smear ads and chase the old emotional wedge issues, they will win again.

Make your Vote count! Your nation and your family’s future are depending on you!

In Solidarity,

Ron Ault
President
Metal Trades Department, AFL-CIO