AFL-CIO CREATES WEBSITE TO COUNTERACT LIES AND MISPERCEPTIONS ABOUT STATE BUDGETS

This is what we look like:  We are probation officers, social workers, librarians, office clerks, home health-aides and scientists.  Some local politicians are telling lies and are trying to take away the right of public workers to bargaining together over pay, benefits, job safety, working conditions and the best way to get the job done. That's just plain wrong.   (Photo:  Robert Leonard)

Rochester, N.Y.--  Social workers, firefighters, teachers, police officers, child care and home care workers—across the country we are being painted as Public Enemy #1 by politicians who want to balance budgets on our backs. State budget deficits are real but cutting jobs and essential state and local services isn't the answer.

The Fiscal Policy Institute estimates that for every 100 public-sector jobs that disappear in New York, the direct effect will mean that the private-sector will lose 30 jobs because of it.

Killing middle-class jobs will make it harder for states and communities to recover from the recession. Having fewer librarians, teachers and first responders puts our children and our quality of life at risk. Many of the newly elected Republican politicians are especially targeting public employee pensions—pensions we workers have paid into for years and earned at the bargaining table by forgoing pay increases.

States of Denial

Instead of creating jobs and solving the problems of middle-class working families, some state politicians are in a real state of denial. They're saying "Thank you" to the corporate CEOs who financed their 2010 election victories by pushing legislation to cut good jobs, lower wages, threaten job safety and weaken unions.

In state after state, including New York, newly elected Republican legislators and governors are playing politics as usual by launching a coordinated attack on working families designed to swell already-record-size corporate profits and keep those CEO bonuses coming. These politicians aren't offering up their own pay or pensions—they want working families to bear the burden.

Here is a AFL-CIO website dedicated to shine a light on what's happening in these States of Denial—and what you can do about it.  Please bookmark this site on your personal electronic device and visit often.  You can also visit the AFL-CIO Now youtube site for up to the minute video press conferences and testimonials.

Don't forget to also visit the STOP THE LIES campaign sponsored by AFSCME.