We Are in This Together
Why are we resisting?
IFPTE Local 21 recognizes that our union of public employees is under attack. Cuts to federal funding stand to threaten our jobs and the services we provide our communities. Attacks against public employees, our labor rights, and our unions are the most severe since we won the right to unionize and have a voice in our workplaces.
Local 21 also recognizes that public services and labor rights do not exist in a vacuum, unrelated to other issues. Rather, public services and workers’ rights are woven into the very fabric of our communities. Attacks on healthcare, immigrants, women, people of color, members of the LGBTQIA community, religious and ethnic minorities, education, the environment, etc. are closely tied to the current debate over what public services should be provided and who they should be provided to.
Just as Local 21 members are impacted by a variety of these issues, unions are just one target of a larger multi-pronged attack. Unions are part of a wider social movement that protects our rights and serves as a check against unrestrained power. Historically, the labor movement has been at its best when it has allied itself with these other struggles for social justice. In our current moment, our best chance to win is to fight alongside other community struggles for rights and equality and to make connections between labor rights and other issues that affect our members. Movements for social justice are stronger when we work together.
How are we resisting?
Local 21 vows to resist policies that threaten union members and the communities we live in and serve. That’s why Local 21 has launched the Local 21 Resistance Program. The Resistance Program will focus on timely issues that members have identified, and will highlight actions members can take through their union that will help protect our communities, jobs, and public services.
If you want to get notice of the full spectrum of Local 21 Resistance activities, send us an email at resist@ifpte21.org.
In this issue of the Local 21 Express, we are highlighting several ways you can get involved:
Local 21 will be showing up for the March for Science on April 22 to stand up for science and the environment.
Want to make your voice heard on the Supreme Court nomination? Check this out.
We are in this together.
We are engineers and scientists, immigrants and parents, women and people of color. We plan cities and make them run. We help families stay together and provide health services to the neediest among us. We make sure there is clean water to drink and safe roadways to travel on. We are entrusted with the public’s well being, and we will not give up in the fight to defend each other. We are Local 21 and we stand united!
