AFL-CIO To Label Government Employee Union Opposition Racist

AFL-CIO President Richard Tumka is planning nationwide labor rallies on April 4th, the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s death. Trumka and the historically racist AFL-CIO seek to argue that the current government union battle in Wisconsin is the same as the Civil Rights movement of the 50′s and 60′s. It’s just a little bit of a stretch to suggest that government employees fighting for more tax money is the same as blacks rightly fighting for an end to Jim Crow and other racial injustices.

Jesse Jackson made a similar argument last week when he declared Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s plan a ‘confederate agenda.’ Jackson claims that Walker’s plan, and other Republican plans to limit the bargaining ability of government employees, is a racist agenda because the black middle class is allegedly working for the government. Jackson of course provides no evidence of this.

I suspect that Jackson and Trumka are coordinating their efforts. Since the left lost the battle in Wisconsin they’ve shifted their focus to race rather than class. It’s pretty clear that no one buys the left’s class warfare argument.  A recent Dick Morris poll that shows support for Republican Governors plans in Wisconsin, Ohio and Indiana up 47-39, while opposition to the Wisconsin Democrats leaving the state stands at 61-25. The class battle has been lost, so Jackson and Trumka are moving on to the next battle in the war which is apparently going to be race.

The idea that trying to limit government employee unions is racist or some sort of confederate agenda is not only bizarre but it’s outright slander. What Jackson and Trumka are doing is setting up Republicans to be labeled as racists for desiring spending cuts, whether they’re at the state or Federal level. After all, that’s what the heart of this fight is.  Walker and other Republican Governors want to get spending under control. Jackson and Trumka oppose spending cuts and apparently their battle plan is to label spending cuts as racist.

Jackson and Trumka want you to ignore the fact that government employees on average earn more than private sector employees. They receive better benefits and a far more lucrative pension. States have fallen into debt because of these lucrative benefits and seek to get them under control by limiting government employee unions and reducing benefits. Keep in mind, in order for the state to spend any money they have to first tax someone. What Jackson and Trumka want is to tax you to pay for extra benefits for government employees. Trumka and other union leaders also want you, the taxpayer, to pay for government employee union representation as well.

Make no mistake, the unions have their hand in the taxpayer cookie jar and they have no intention of removing it. The Democrats want the unions hand in the cookie jar because the unions pay for their campaigns to the tune of $180 million in just the 2010 election. If the unions lose in Wisconsin and other states, they’ll likely become irrelevant to employees and ultimately the union and the Democrats will lose support and funding. They’re desperate to try anything to save their money and power, including pretending like Republicans are racist.

Jackson and Trumka are despicable characters. To call someone a racist for favoring spending cuts and for favoring government salaries getting in line with the private sector is insulting and outrageous. To demean the civil rights movement by equating a legitimate fight for racial civil rights with government employees wanting to remain high on the hog is disgraceful. I hope the American people see through this nasty, hateful campaign by the AFL-CIO.