VSEA Member Pens A Great Letter To The Editor, Blasting Ethan Allen Institute’s Anti-Union Radio Ads

April 15, 2019 

April 15, 2019 

 

 

Thanks for writing this great letter Brett Pierce; a DPS employee in Waterbury. The letter was published in the Waterbury Record.

 

To the Editor:

 

You might have heard a radio ad by the Ethan Allen Institute targeting public sector workers. The ad encourages public workers to drop their union. I’m a public worker. I’ll be sticking with my union, and you should too.

 

Those of us lucky enough to be part of a union know that if we don’t stick together, we all suffer. Workers without unions can expect lower pay, worse benefits, and few workplace protections. Decades of evidence has shown us that weakening unions drives income inequality. Working people today are more productive than ever, but they’re taking home less of what they earn. That’s because wealthy oligarchs have spent decades eroding our collective bargaining rights. Without strong unions, workers make and bosses take.

 

Why does the Ethan Allen Institute want public workers to drop their unions? Because it’s a front group for out of state right-wing billionaires. The Ethan Allen Institute is part of the State Policy Network. It’s a pipeline for dark money from groups like Philip Morris and the Koch Brothers. These people have a financial interest in busting unions. Organized workers are harder to exploit, and worker exploitation is their business model. That’s why they’re willing to pay for ads like these, and go to such lengths to hide their involvement. They know that getting workers to drop their unions means more money for them, and less money for you.

If you work for a living, you owe it to yourself to join a union. If your workplace isn’t organized, you owe it to yourself and your coworkers to start one. Alone, you’re at the mercy of your boss. By forming a union together with your coworkers, you can bring democracy to work.

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