Public workers didn't hunker down. When Hurricane Sandy was bearing down on the East Coast we did what AFSCME(American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees) always does: We surged forward, leaned into danger and took up our posts to help our fellow citizens.
We were dispatching ambulances and driving them. Shoring up utility and drainage systems ahead of the storm and repairing them after. Making sure citizens were getting the information they needed about the looming storm and helping them navigate the recovery process afterward. Evacuating infants and the elderly and disabled, even as power grids failed. Ensuring our communities were safe.
It's what we do, no matter what's raining down on us.
Too often though, politicians are raining a different type of disaster down on us. Attacks on retirement security, collective bargaining and the right to organize to strengthen our union are intensifying. Our resounding victory over anti-worker politicians in November election may have temporarily slowed the opponents of working families, but they're not going anywhere. We've got news for them though: neither are we. From Maine to Hawaii, we'll push back against efforts to undercut the very things that built the American middle class - strong unions, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
Because we are AFSCME, and we will weather any storm.
Lee Saunders, President Laura Reyes, Secretary-Treasurer
35 International Vice Presidents
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*The AFSCME is the largest voting bloc in the country, which catapulted president Barack Obama for his second term in November 2012 election. AFSCME is a member of AFL-CIO. Historically, no political candidate, federal, state or local, could be elected without the support of AFSCME.
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