http://www.vindy.com/news/2008/dec/14/attack-on-american-dream/Published:Sunday, December 14, 2008
Attack on American dream
EDITOR:
I have watched and listened to the debates and rhetoric for the last two weeks pertaining to what is known as the automobile bailout, which is really a bridge loan. I am in disbelief that the U.S. Senate would vote this down after giving in excess of $700 billion to the very people who are a big part of the problem, not only in the auto industry, but to the whole economy.
The more we see and hear, the more the fight is about tearing down the middle class, because that is exactly what happens when you have more people making between $10 and $15 per hour. I have had the privilege of representing newspaper workers throughout the state of Ohio for 40-plus years, and I can tell you that if it were not for unions, there would be no middle class — there would be the rich and the poor. If it weren’t for unions, there would be no $15 per hour jobs. It is because of union that the nonunion employers pay something above the minimum rate.
Only in the halls of the U.S. Senate and Congress can you demand something more than a majority vote to carry an issue. In the American Labor Movement, a simple majority always rules. The senators from Alabama and Tennessee are interested in only filibuster, rather than solving the problem.
Maybe the time has come for the only filibuster that is meaningful and effective, by taking a page from our brothers and sisters in Europe, which would be by asking all American workers, union or not, who have a stake in this to join in and give Washington, D.C., a good old-fashioned demonstration — for as long as it takes to get this job done.
Never forget the people who are responsible for attempting to further destroy our American dream.
CARMEN E. PARISE
Business Representative
Teamsters Union Local 473
Brook Park, Ohio
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