We recently stood together with our labor brothers and sisters across the state at recent AFSCME Working People’s Day of Action events in New York City and Buffalo.
Our message was clear — we are working to unrig the system that has allowed billionaires to keep getting richer on the backs of working people.
“We are here to tell [anti-labor groups] that they will NOT succeed, that we are not going anywhere,” said CSEA Executive Vice President Mary E. Sullivan. “The road ahead will not be easy, but no matter the obstacles ahead, we cannot and will not abandon our heritage and dishonor those who fought and died so we have this right to be union.”
AFSCME International President Lee Saunders noted that working people are standing together in the face of attacks. “We stand united in fighting a rigged system that rewards the super-wealthy at everyone else’s expense,” he said in a news release. “We will not rest until we build an economy where everyone has a voice on the job, a seat at the table and a chance to succeed.”
CSEA Executive Vice President Mary E.
Sullivan and New York State Comptroller
Thomas P. DiNapoli.
Along with labor leaders, numerous elected officials spoke at the rallies. Gov. Andrew Cuomo and State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli were among those who spoke at the New York City rally.
“When you attack labor, you attack New York, a state that is proud to have the highest union membership in the United States of America!” Cuomo said. “I believe we need more unions today, not fewer. There are workers today who are being victimized and abused and need the strength and solidarity of the labor movement more than ever.”
The governor pledged his support to working people. “If we stand together, nobody can beat us,” he said.
DiNapoli, whose mother was a CSEA Nassau County Local member and whose father was also a union member, spoke about how unions ensured his family’s economic security.
“Do we want an America that chips away at the hard-won labor victories?” he said. “No! We want an America that values unions and working people.”
Standing together in Albany
CSEA Capital Region members also recently showed our solidarity by joining our labor brothers and sisters for a rally that coincided with the Janus oral arguments at the U.S. Supreme Court. The Janus case is a blatant attack on unions.
Briggs
Capital Region President Ron Briggs recalled The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s contributions to labor justice.
“If we are silent when the Supreme Court tries to silence our voice, our lives begin to end. If we are silent when greedy corporations and the millionaires behind them continue to oppress working families, our lives begin to end. If we are silent when politicians pass legislation that favors the wealthiest few over working families, our lives begin to end,” Briggs said. “In a year when we remember the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. King while he was in Tennessee participating in an AFSCME sanitation workers strike, one must wonder just when will working families be put first? Dr. King knew that our solidarity would be our strength. United we stand, divided we beg.”
“If you’re not at the table, then you’re on the menu,” Sullivan said. “We’re never going to be on the menu.”
