WHEREAS:

            The right-wing war against public services, public unions and working families has raged for years. Once the right wing realized that people actually value their public services, rather than openly proposing to decimate them, they began to gin up  anger against taxes instead; and

WHEREAS:

            This anti-tax drumbeat indeed has led to tax cuts; in fact, taxes in the U.S. are at their lowest level in 60 years. But these tax cuts have not helped the middle class; they have created a vastly more unfair system that benefits the wealthy and corporations and is wholly inadequate to fund the vital services that people depend on and has led to a decline in the public services that people value; and

WHEREAS:

            Grover Norquist, head of Americans for Tax Reform, admitted that this was the real goal when he explained ‟Iʼm not in favor of abolishing the government. I just want to shrink it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtubˮ; and

WHEREAS:

            Norquist and his ilk were aided and abetted by the right-wing media, which has become an outlet for ideological extremists to voice opinions unconstrained by facts; and

WHEREAS:

            The Federal Communications Commission’s Fairness Doctrine, established in 1949 and eliminated by a Reagan-dominated FCC in 1987, mandated time for opposing viewpoints on issues of the day.  With its demise, “fair and balanced” became a phony slogan, rather than a principled and regulated way of presenting opinion.  This paved the way for the proliferation of right-wing, one-sided media; and

WHEREAS:

            Today, these media outlets freely disseminate the myths that public employees are overpaid and underworked; that public service employees have been immune from the effects of the Great Recession; that extravagant pensions benefits are bankrupting state and local governments and that health care benefits are a luxury; and

WHEREAS:

            They paint public service employees and their unions as impediments to good government rather than as strong advocates of good government, and they tout privatization as a quick fix to any problem, despite the overwhelming evidence that privatization creates more problems than it solves; and

WHEREAS:

            The Great Recession strained many already stressed working families to the economic breaking point and further devastated already weak public sector budgets; and

WHEREAS:

            Right wing governors,  state legislators and U.S. Representatives, elected in 2010 with millions of dollars from  corporate allies like the Koch brothers, seized the moment to mount an all-out  attack on public service employees and their unions – the true Middle Class and the strongest voice for working people and social justice; and

WHEREAS:

            The voices of the right-wing are loud and their anger is powerful, but the facts are on our side; and

WHEREAS:

            While the ferocity of their attack may have been unexpected, the nature of their attack was not. AFSCME has long understood the importance of promoting the value of public services and the workers who provide them; and

WHEREAS:

            Over the years we have developed honest messages to counter these exaggerated and mendacious  images of government that lead to calls for budget cuts and privatization, and we have developed tools to bust the dehumanizing  myths about public service workers’ wages and benefits; and

WHEREAS:

            In the face of these attacks, we invested in new ways for our members to tell their stories, including the creation of our innovative Faces and Voices training, an intensive program to give members the skills to speak up for the work they do and the values they represent; and

WHEREAS:

            We have also increased our capacity to counter their myths with facts – about our members’ wages, pension and health benefits, the vital work they do, the true cause of public sector budget problems  and the perils of privatization; and

WHEREAS:

            We have adapted to the demands of the current 24/7/365 news cycle, with an aggressive communications strategy that works to ensure that AFSCME’s point of view is heard and  includes new video capability, social media tools and a rapid response operation; and

WHEREAS:

            While we may have borne the brunt of recent attacks, we were not alone. AFSCME and all of labor worked together to speak with one voice, and that voice has been amplified by our broad and diverse allies - students, environmentalists, faith communities, immigrants, the LGBT community, civil rights champions and more; and 

WHEREAS:

            Although we cannot rest, the tide has begun to turn, as voters in Ohio supported working families by a margin of almost 2 to 1, ordinary citizens in states across the country took to the streets day after day to stand with our members and Occupy Wall Street captured the frustrations of the 99 percent.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:

            That AFSCME will continue to speak forcefully for our members and the vital work they do. And, recognizing that our 1.6 million members are the best advocates for public services and the common good, we will continue to provide them with the tools and the opportunities to tell their stories through Faces and Voices training and other means; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

We will use every means at our disposal to make sure that the public understands the facts about our members’ wages and benefits, the vital work they do,  the problems inherent in  privatization and the everyday heroism that defines public service work;  and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

We are not afraid to meet the right-wing head on. We challenge media of every type to make room for our voices.  Balanced public discourse is essential to democracy; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED: 

While we cannot match the resources that fuel the right wing media, we can and will continue to use video, social media, rapid response and other tools to challenge their lies and disseminate the truth. At a time when the forum for public debate is ever-changing, we will continue to innovate; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED: 

That the strident and uncompromising tenor of public debate has harmed not only AFSCME members and the services they provide, but all our friends and allies who work for social and economic justice. Together, our steadfast voices will not be silenced.