Photo: Protest held in Burlington, Vermont as part of the nationwide “We Fight Back!” actions on January 20th
The following statement was issued by the Labor Department of the Party for Socialism and Liberation
This week, the Trump administration sent an email to over 2 million federal employees to solicit “voluntary” resignations. This attempt to coerce resignations is just the first step in an all-out attack on federal workers, with an aim of destroying their jobs, crushing their unions and hollowing out government services as a whole.
These attacks on federal workers impact all working people: it means gutting the federal programs and services that generations of working-class people have fought so hard to secure. Once these vital services are deprived of the personnel they need to function properly, it will be much easier to label them “failing” and then justify handing them over to private corporations to run (or destroy) for a profit.
Federal employees include those who administer Medicaid, veterans’ care, food stamps, Social Security, public housing and more. They are essential to ensuring safety in transportation, food and more.
The jobs and livelihoods of millions of workers are on the line. The basic services that working class communities depend on are under threat. The time to act is now and the power is in our hands.
Union jobs and social services were not given to working people. They were fought for – from the heroic labor upsurge in the 1930s to the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s. That is the kind of spirit and movement that this moment now demands.
In 1981, Ronald Reagan fired 11,000 federal workers who were members of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) when they went on strike to improve working conditions and address unsafe conditions that affected air safety. When he got away with it, this began a period of historic setback for workers and our unions. The corporate world followed Reagan’s lead, destroying and outsourcing good union jobs while poverty and homelessness skyrocketed.
Now, we face a similar turning point. The labor movement has an opportunity to take bold action that will undoubtedly be supported by the millions who oppose the rule of the billionaires and the millions who rely on basic government services. Inaction at this moment would have far-reaching consequences and is not an option.
Trump’s strategy is “shock and awe,” to move so quickly and aggressively that it makes him look invincible and to make all resistance appear futile. But he can be defeated. The whole reason we have unions is to overcome the notion that the boss is invincible and the worker is all alone. Unions show that there is power in the collective — there are more of us than there are of them. Now’s the time to show it!
