Organizing Victories - International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers

gel ddiclI i .... an i .... Mlc of grn" ing public
lonccm. l3ul \\'hilf' the va'11l111jll ri ty or
AlI lcril:an!>. rl:ci the tJdicll !>.houl ct be
reduced "iuh... talllially. a ... turd) 1Il.ljor-
11) COllllnue to oppose 'ilgOlficanl cutbac"'
... 111 .... pending for maO 01 the
l 'OUnl ry'" l11(h! cO"ill y I governmenll
program!>..··
To iJ large degree Ihcn. Prc,idcnl
RC'lgan'~ all -out ~::,aull on \\hal he
t~nned "Blg Govcrnmcn(' '"TIply cut
do\~ n on thc governrnenl· ... ahll1l 10
w ~ c on lho la,k, people hUG been UP>CI
II hadn't done we ll enough hefor . For
the eight year::, of the Reag.an acilni nl'-
1r.lllon. and inlo the I:L,I four )car, of
Ihe Bu,h ildmlT1i~lr~lIion , people have
cume 10 C;\PCCl le:,s and Ics\" from gov.
crnmcnl. whcn all along Ihey hud hupell
lor 111 re an t.! more.
So \\hCIl men like Congre~!oIillan
Gephardl and Senalor Ilarkin lell Iheir
:,ad :-.tonc'" of "'nowing peoplc who ... uf·
fcr. many people don'l ,ec a po ...... iblc
government ... olulion. T hey may be up·
... et. but mO~1 have come to expect government
10 turn the oLhcr check. This
... llIfl in \\ hat American~ have come to
c\pect from their government ha~ had
ucva:-.tiJti li g cffec h Oil Amerkan
worki ngpcnplt: ,
The Mala ise Factor
Pia) ing on the feeling of ( .hmini~ h -
11ll! cxpe('t ~1I10ns fo r govcrnlllcili.
George Bu ... h ha!' repc:.Hl!dly r,,:ferred to
the mltt-to-Iatc '70... "late of mimi a ...
16
"rnalai::,c:' and lu~ IfIed 10 c()ntra~1 it
ag ai n~ t a nn\ CI U 0 1 reduced government
pre:-.cncc. BU I for 1ll 0~ t Amcrican~.
that mal"j ... c \... \" ilh 1I \ ag.a in. if it
cver le fl HI all. A, ,I i, for Ihe IBEW
Zenilh emplo)c",- It iglt lighled in part
oneorlh i~~cric~ IBE\V AT&T manufac
luring employee .... and every ('lthl!r
American " ho', Joh ha> been 'hipped
to Mex ico. the rno~ t vi""iblc feature of
current Amencan m:lla i\c ,... job l o\~.
This MIIHmcrlhc ullem ployment ra te
... lOod at 7.X pen::c ll t- IO million mcn
and women Nil ()f worJ...- an eight-year
high, Manufacturing plant!) a re moving
OV4!r"'eas and 10 Mexico 111 dcva:-.tating.
numbers. and American worker ... .t union organllcr:" Run Su!>.kind
in h i ~ July 28. 19Y2. I\',,({ S/IWI JO/lr·
/11// arlicle. "Threal of Ch~ap Labor
Abroad Complic.l1c ... Dcci"ion ... to
LnioniL.e." ... ay:-. "Aft er wccb 01 hcmg
cajoled and harang.ued hy buth "de:"
lor Inn .. l Icmp l oycc~1 it Ithc Unlonrccogl1ltl
n \ ote J h.-ttl come do\\ n 10 a
III EW jot R AL/OCTOII I' R 1'I'l2