STOP THE LIES: LET THE VOICE OF LABOR BE HEARD

Commentary by Ove Overmyer

Washington, D.C.-- We are living in an age of unprecedented global change, when the "news" remains the news for a matter of seconds, when the venue for serious political discussion is marred by paltry, petty party rivalry. We are living during a period in U.S. history of severe skepticism and distrust of our "democratic" government.

Our needs both as human beings and as citizens of our nation continue to overlap — honesty, certainty, reliability and veracity remain the foundation of our expectations for a wholesome livelihood. We are all too familiar with dubious political discourse and the inability of Robert Gibbs to tell us, point blank, what is really going on inside the White House.

If we can't obtain a straightforward answer from our government, who can we rely on for clarity, legitimacy and our right to know? Certainly, it will not be your typical corporate-owned media outlet.

Department of Labor is pissed off

Large media conglomerates have become so biased against the working class that even a federal agency can't get its message out, says a senior U.S. Department of Labor official.

President Obama's Labor Department does have an impressive list of accomplishments, but mainstream media could care less, reports Carl Fillichio, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis's Senior Adviser for Public Affairs and Communications. The remarks were made at a recent gathering of the International Labor Communications Association (ILCA).

ILCA, with nearly 500 members, is the professional association of newspapers, websites and other forms of media published by labor unions or labor friendly organizations.

Referring to the mid-term elections, Fillichio said: "Why we fared the way we did is because things weren't explained enough to people. There is a great need for people to get the full story."

He went on to say that labor unions must provide their own primary source media outlets. In many cases, the only way the U.S. Labor Department can get its accomplishments or agenda items known is through the independent media and the internet.

In making his case, Fillichio listed Labor Department accomplishments that the vast majority of Americans have never heard about.

Under Solis' watch, The Labor Department has hired 720 bilingual grievance personnel, issued the largest OSHA fine in history, and - in a move unprecedented in U.S. history - completely shut down a mine because of worker fatalities. "We believe that a worker doesn't have to die for a paycheck," one federal official said.

More than anything else, however, the biggest accomplishment of Solis's department so far, Fillichio told the crowd, was to bring it back up to pre-Bush standards going back to year 2000. "That's pathetic," he said, "but we gotta brag about that, because the previous administration brought it so low."

The Department of Labor pledged to continue to fight for working people. Now, with the GOP taking over the House of Representatives, Solis and her staff say they will focus especially on enforcing existing labor law.

"We cannot depend on traditional media to get our message out," Fillichio concluded.

We need to tell our stories

Journalism is the only profession that is explicitly protected by the U.S. Constitution. It was created to provide non-filtered, authentic information from primary sources. If the media had chosen to be responsible, it would have depicted the horrors of war and we could of prevented some of the mess George W. Bush created for us by his inability to govern when he was "handed over" the presidency back in 2000.

We as labor activists battle every single day to provide factual, direct and accurate information to our members and the general public when public policy touches real lives.

Unfortunately, the big players like The Washington Post, the New York Times, Gannett Newspapers (US Today & D.C.) and most cable television news channels only focus on the nuts and bolts of policy issues and how it affects their own business interests. They never make that connection between how it affects our working class lives and our local communities in real time and in real ways. And often, it is told through the corporate lens using code words and inflection to demean and ridicule the average worker into thinking they are second class citizens in a plutocratic society.

The CSEA Voice Reporter

What we try to do at the CSEA Voice Reporter that distinguishes us from other news outlets is that we don't wait for news to happen but chase it, investigate it, and deliver it organically in a timely fashion. If our democracy is to be preserved, our sources of information must be advocates of citizen engagement. That can only occur if we are made aware of the cruel realities and policy choices of our government officials who continue to marginalize public employees and devalue our work.

And, with the election of so many anti-labor politicians and friends of Wall Street about to take office, the spin and lies are only going to get worse as the middle class crumbles before our very eyes.

Over the coming weeks and months, CSEA will be asking you to make calls, send letters, talk to your co-workers, tell us your stories, and more. Email us at the Voice Reporter and tell us your story.  Are you in?