July 28, 2011
By Richard L. Trumka, President AFL-CIO
Last weekend, House Republican leaders proved just how far they are willing to go to achieve their ideological goals. They shut down the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
As if bringing America to the brink of default hasn’t done enough damage already. Are they out of their minds? Because of the extreme ideological agenda of House Republicans and their political game-playing, 4,000 workers were furloughed over the weekend and more than 90,000 jobs across the country are on the line—including 2,304 in NY.
Meanwhile, the government is out $200 million a week in airline ticket fees that normally fund our aviation infrastructure. That loss now will be added to the national debt.
Republican House leaders’ hostage-taking needs to stop. Republican leaders in Congress got elected by calling for job creation. But instead of creating jobs, they’re playing political. games. They are disrupting the FAA and airport infrastructure improvements for one reason—to play to a political ideology focused on scapegoating. workers.
They want to take the right to democratic union elections away from air and rail workers—and they’re willing to destroy tens of thousands of good, middle-class jobs to do it.
