Public Employee Press

Editorial
The Racist Attacks on the Public Sector

Public service work and unions have played an important role in the development and growth of America's middle class.

African Americans and Latinos in particular, two groups who have historically struggled against inequality, low wages and unemployment, have made tremendous strides, in part because they are more likely to work in the public sector and belong to a union.

"The labor movement," Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, "was the principal force that transformed misery and despair into hope and progress."

Public sector employment and union membership paved the road to success for many people of color with the promise of better wages and benefits, and job security that made home ownership possible. Belonging to a union meant the next generation could do better than its parents.

The Great Recession, brought on by greedy Wall Street bankers - and the subsequent government bailout - led politicians to scapegoat and lay off hundreds of thousands of municipal, state and federal employees.

But it didn't stop there. With support from right-wing billionaires such as the Koch brothers, extremist governors and legislators in states like Wisconsin, Missouri, Ohio and Florida have tried (too many with success) to blow up collective bargaining and other union rights.

The epic economic crisis crushed America's middle class, especially African Americans and Latinos, who lost more than half their pre-recession wealth. Layoffs and home foreclosures resulted in a collective loss of over $14 trillion for black communities where home equity values plummeted a whopping 92 percent. It will take generations to recover the loss.

So when billionaires like the Koch brothers or governors like Wisconsin's Scott Walker, or Tea Partiers - and those who think like them - cry to "blow up government," - we should all connect-the-dots, understand who gets hurt the most, and see these racist attacks for what they are.