IVAW stands in Solidarity with Public Employee Unions We Are Public Employees Too!

[kpete]

Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) calls on all U.S. military service members to refuse and resist any mobilization against workers organizing to protect their basic rights. IVAW stands in solidarity with the multitude gathered in Madison, Wisconsin and many other cities to defend their unions.

STATEMENT:
Iraq Veterans Against the War to Troops: “We Are Public Employees Too!”

We believe military service members are public employees too. It is dishonorable to suggest that military personnel should be deployed against teachers, health care providers, firefighters, police officers, and other government employees, many of whom are themselves serving in the National Guard.

............

Governor Scott Walker recently stated that he was preparing the National Guard to respond to “labor unrest” following the introduction of union-busting legislation in Wisconsin. Governor Walker has attempted to justify this attack on collective bargaining by pointing to state budget shortfalls. Missing from this explanation is an acknowledgment that these deficits have been created and exacerbated by the ongoing trillion dollar wars and occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Meanwhile, federal and local governments across the U.S. are cutting back on the public sector.

Troops have been called out in the past against worker strikes, campus protests, and urban uprisings. However, recent events in Egypt and numerous examples from U.S. history have shown that service members have the power to side with the people and refuse to use violence against their fellow citizens. Troops activated for duty in Madison, WI will have to decide if public sector workers are really the enemy. IVAW says they are not and that troops should support workers fighting for decent jobs, wages, and benefits.

We know firsthand that the U.S. military is already overextended from a decade at war. Through our Operation Recovery campaign, we have been fighting for the right of our troops to heal, rather than being involuntarily redeployed with severe physical and psychological injuries. Adding another mission to an already overburdened military for the purposes of suppressing the rights of workers is irresponsible and not worthy of our service.

http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5966/p/salsa/web/tellafriend/public/?tell_a_friend_KEY=3087

[myrna minx]

1. K&R n/t

[pinboy3niner]

2. ...

:patriot:

[Overseas]

3. K&R and Many Thanks ! //nt

[inna]

4. Military is being "prepared to respond to labor unrest"?? Oh my.

:banghead:

Welcome to the new normal.

It's a (unilateral) class war, as simple as that. WTF is going on, anyway??? What triggered this unprecedented assault on human/workers' rights and why are people (mostly) putting up with this crap (so far)?

What I am curious about is what it is the elites know that we don't. Their behavior (globally) seems to be completely, rabidly sociopathic and even potentially self-destructive considering what the masses' reactions might be.


We sure live in "interesting times", ahem.

[Puregonzo1188]

8. Actually, that's the old normal. Military and national guard routinely broke strikes

in the 19th and early 20th century. It's been awhile, but it is hardly the "new normal." Sometimes the mask comes off the capitalist class.

[Dystopian]

5. KandR.

peace~

[Dystopian]

6. .....

peace~

[steve2470]

7. k&r nt