International Guards Union of America

[OrganizingAdvocate]

WE THE PEOPLE


Since 1776 the working people of this country and when I say this country I mean the United States Of America have given everything they have to make this the greatest country in the world. They have been through wars, hunger and depression. They have seen their loved ones go off to war and never return. They have seen their children hungry. And with the Great Depression of the 20’s and 30’s many had to start all over again. Through all of this there was a feeling that people still cared about each other and that they could still attain a better life for themselves and their families and generally make their lives better. So you say what’s different today? After years of building the United States of America to what was the greatest manufacturer of goods, be it machine tooling, automobiles, textiles or housing, you name it American workers built it or made it and everyone profited. But then about twenty to twenty five years ago along comes a hoard of politicians supported by big business and their lobbyists that say we the working people of this country have had it too good for too long. That we make too much money. That our health care system is too good and too expensive. That our retirement system is too expensive and should be cut along with our medical benefits. And the most insulting of all “That the American worker is lazy ”. They pass laws that make it easy for big and small corporations alike to move their businesses outside of the United States where they can exploit cheap labor and pay little or no taxes. Countries that lack any labor laws or unions to protect their workers. Countries where there are no labor standards, no air quality standards, no water quality standards, no child labor laws, and no worker protection standards. They did and in some cases still do business where children, prisoners, the poorest of the poor and anyone else able to work who can be exploited with extremely long hours, extremely low wages, no health care or other benefits. No labor laws and especially no unions is the norm, and these big corporations will move to another country if there is any progress made in bettering these conditions. These same politicians, big business and their lobbyists have gotten almost all of the laws protecting unions and labor in general repealed. This makes it very difficult to put any kind of pressure on a company to stay in the United States and to bargain a fair and just contract with any labor group or union. They have been able to convince our court system to negate pension plans that in some cases workers have been vested in for thirty to forty years, which was their whole work life.
We are at a point in the United States where the big corporations and their lobbyists run our politicians and these politicians espouse the big corporate agendas with little regard for the American worker.
It’s past the time when our unions should form a global community. A time when we need to work very closely with all foreign unions to make sure that we promote unionism in countries where these big corporations have made a move to exploit them.
We are at a critical point in unionism; we need to come out with a strong and positive grass roots message to the working people of the United States of America. We need our union leadership in Washington to be able to tell these big and small corporations alike that you can leave the country, but at a price. You will not go unchecked. We as union and non union workers alike have been sitting idly by while they closed our plants and sent our good jobs outside the country. We as a country cannot afford to keep sending good jobs out of the country and bringing cheap labor in, especially illegal labor.
It’s almost to late for this to stop but we have to start somewhere, it’s time to come together. We need to vote in politicians who have a proven track record of supporting working people so that laws can be changed to protect our country, our unions and working people in general. We must be proactive as unions and union members in accomplishing this more so than ever before. We must do this for ourselves, our families and generations of workers to come. Our country and her workers cannot afford to be run down anymore than they already are. We need good jobs with benefits and a fair living wage in order to survive as a country.

Signed,

A retired IGUA Security Guard

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