Life insurance? Got it. Home insurance, check, car insurance, yup. Health insurance, you bet, thank you Local 3. Economic security insurance. Huh? Economic security? Yeah, you know your job, your membership in the IBEW, the benefits you and your family have that are provided for by the collective bargaining agreement negotiated on your behalf. Your right to be a union member and to have wages and benefits that allow us to send our children to college and your ability to eventually retire in dignity and to have the peace of mind that your family will have significant benefits upon your death. That’s Economic Security and you know what, you can’t buy insurance to protect it and it is real easy to lose.
In fact, you can put you and your family’s economic security at real risk with the pull of a lever. You can put the economic security of all of our families at risk if you pull that lever for the wrong person, especially for the wrong reason.
Think about it
According to Student News Daily, Liberals believe in government action to achieve equal opportunity and equality for all. It is the duty of the government to alleviate social ills and to protect civil liberties and individual and human rights. Believe the role of the government should be to guarantee that no one is in need. Liberal policies generally emphasize the need for the government to solve problems. Conservatives believe in personal responsibility, limited government, free markets, individual liberty, traditional American values and a strong national defense. Believe the role of government should be to provide people the freedom necessary to pursue their own goals. Conservative policies generally emphasize empowerment of the individual to solve problems.
Whether you’re a liberal or a conservative, you’re an American and so are those that may have a different point of view. Take a minute to look at the issues ‰ÛÓ Affirmative Action, Abortion, the Economy, Education, Energy/Climate Change, Government, Gun Control, Immigration, Racial Equality, Religion, Same-Sex Marriage.
Liberals and conservatives have strong opposing views on all of these issues, Is it possible to be a conservative Democrat or a liberal Republican?
Sure it is. Union members have strong views on many of these issues but there is no issue more important than your economic security.
You may agree with Donald Trump on some or all of his issues but the fact is that if Trump is elected you get the whole package and that includes the party and the policies that not only have nothing to do with your economic security but actually are intent on destroying it. The very wealthy in this country and the corporations understand that most union members support the Democratic Party; in fact the trade union movement is the only organized entity that keeps them from having it all. So how do you stop the Democrats: kill the unions and they are doing a pretty good job. The result: a Supreme Court that passed Citizens United allowing unlimited corporate contributions in elections which has bought politicians in both the congress and state legislatures which has brought deadlock, the elimination of collective bargaining and right to work which means Walmart wages for all. Republicans have weakened the trade union movement and too many working Americans have behaved like sheep being herded to the slaughter.
What else
Anybody have a crazy uncle in their family? Of course you do, we all do. A family member with a disability? Someone struggling financially or suffering the effects of alcoholism or drug addiction? The difference is that the wealthy have the resources to deal with those kinds of problems. How do ordinary working Americans with limited means deal with those problems without help? They don’t and if Trump wins his cronies will further limit the limited resources the government provides now. Less taxes for the wealthy means less government and less resources to help those less fortunate.
In the past, private sector companies honored commitments for health insurance and pensions for their employees, not anymore. What will happen to working Americans without retirement income or medical coverage? What happens to our senior citizens? America is great because of social programs like Medicare, Social Security, and disability insurance. Think about what deregulation really means, it means more profits for corporate America, more misery and low wage jobs without benefits, it means the end of the middle- class and the destruction of our environment. Is the wall worth all that. You get the whole package with the pull of that lever.
Union membership negotiate and divert wages to build a safety net to ensure dignity in retirement and economic security. What happens when there are no more unions. You took an oath. We are a trade union. We need to protect Davis-Bacon and PLA’s and collective bargaining. Don’t vote against your own economic security.
Death, fire, flood, accident, cancer, you have insurance. The only insurance you have to protect your economic security is to not be fooled by someone who talks a good game and in the end could care less about you and what’s really important to your family.
