Images of Ground Zero workers rolling up their sleeves to dig the country out in our time of need, and the celebration of the blue-collar worker that followed, are quickly fading in light of recent moves by the Bush administration to disjoint organized labor, notes Communications Workers of America spokesman Steve Early in a recent Boston Globe op-ed. Events like the refusal of aid for displaced workers from the airline industry, congressional approval for future free trade deals that threaten U.S. manufacturing jobs, and the privatization of 170,000 federal jobs are just a few examples of this administration?s assault on labor. And the president?s plans to privatize 700,000 more jobs means minimal rights for workers who would otherwise have a collective voice and full union benefits. ?Union attitudes began to change when it became clear that there was going to be a war on labor at home as well as on enemies abroad,? writes Early. Protests that started at the grassroots level spawned USLAW (US Labor Against the War), which is opposing a possible war in Iraq. They?ve convinced the AFL-CIO executive council to declare that President Bush has failed to make the case for military action.
?Nick Garafola

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