Misplaced Idea to Private the Tennessee Valley Authority Brings Unions, GOP Together

[Omaha Steve]

http://wepartypatriots.com/wp/2013/09/19/misplaced-idea-to-private-the-tennessee-valley-authority-brings-unions-gop-together/


Vintage TVA photos are cool.


The budget proposed by President Barack Obama in April floated an idea to privatize the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), a crown jewel of the New Deal. Labor unions expressing deep opposition to the idea are being joined by unlikely allies in the fight.

This week unions representing over 13 million workers approved a resolution “to fight to prevent the transfer of the publicly-funded Tennessee Valley Authority to private interests.” Their call is being echoed by many of the region’s GOP lawmakers who want to see the TVA remain intact. In a statement about the proposed privatization, Gay Henson, president of Engineering Association/IFTPE Local 1937 in Chattanooga, said:

“Privatization of TVA is a very bad idea…[It] would diminish the critical role that TVA has played in the region, negatively impact the economy of many states, and bring a catastrophic blow to the more than 13,000 jobs – many union jobs – at TVA.”

Tennessee Republican Senator Lamar Alexander has called the idea “one more bad idea in a budget full of bad ideas.” He added that for customers in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia:

FULL story at link.