More Troops to War, Few Dollars for Jobs. What’s Wrong with This Picture?

http://labornotes.org/2009/12/more-troops-war-few-dollars-jobs-what%E2%80%99s-wrong-picture

Jane Slaughter | January 5, 2010

Thirty thousand more soldiers and marines to Afghanistan, not enough federal dollars for jobs. President Obama announced both within three days, and labor activists are asking, “What’s wrong with this picture?”

The third national conference of U.S. Labor Against the War (USLAW) resolved to educate union members about the costs, in money and human lives, of the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, with the goal of bringing unions into the debate on the side of withdrawal.


Hassan Juma’a Awad (left), president of the Iraq Federation of Oil Unions, and Monadel Herzallah, president of the Arab-American Union Members Council, spoke at the US Labor Against the War conference. Photo: Sue Ruggles/USLAW

“We don’t think it’s possible to fight two wars and have a domestic agenda that works to the benefit of unions and working people,” said Sue Ruggles, a health and safety rep in a Milwaukee Teachers local. “Certainly Johnson found that out in Vietnam—his whole domestic agenda went down the tubes. We’d hate to see that happen to Obama.”

That last sentiment reveals the rub for many labor leaders, and the challenge for USLAW: union leaders are hesitant to criticize the president on any issue, fearing to weaken him against conservative forces in Congress and in the country.

“It will be heavy lifting to convince unions they should take a position against the escalation in Afghanistan because we put all this time and money into Obama,” said Kathy Black, one of seven USLAW co-convenors and an AFSCME staffer in Philadelphia.

But in a debate at USLAW’s meeting, held December 4-6 in Chicago, delegates indicated how they could finesse the question. They want to avoid pinning the war on Obama—“we can try to keep it from being about blasting Obama and just oppose the policy,” as Black put it.

“I think you can separate the policy from the person in your literature and your signs,” added Donna Goodman, a delegate from the United University Professions union in New York state.

FULL story at link.

Bankers are getting the largest bonuses in all of history, thanks to Obama's use of our tax dollars, including his latest executive order pledging unlimited bailout support for Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac.

So, STFU and go work hard to pay your 79% interest rate credit card, chump.