Sunday, September 25, 2011

It's A War On The Workers

Brothers and Sisters,

Agencies across the state are being told to cut programs, cut services, lay off workers and just let the public deal with the impacts. It’s a war on the middle class, a war on working families, and a war on the citizens of Washington state. Those least able to fight back will pay the price and some of them the ultimate price. We must not let it happen!

As the legislature moves toward special session in November, the banks, the corporations like Boeing, and healthcare CEOs are raking money in. Our most vulnerable citizens are being abandoned and our middle class is disappearing. If these things matter to you – stand up and fight back! I want to hear from you the plans your local puts together. We have a very short time to respond. It’s a war on the workers and a war on those least able to fight back. Stand together! Stand strong! We are all in this together. Fight back!

In Corrections we may face the lay off of the very people who keep our neighborhoods safe. Do we really want prisoners released without supervision in order to keep the wealthy from paying their fair share of the cost of public services?

In Employment Security, the very workers who help the unemployed find work face lay off themselves.

The list of potential cuts go on and on.

Children, victims of domestic violence, may have nowhere to turn.

Healthcare for children – gone.

TANF for families ends at 48 months. These are the things I’m hearing. I know you are hearing even more detail.

Six full wards in mental health proposed for closure. That’s 120 mentally ill beds closed.

These cuts are devastating to the citizens we serve. They are a cruel and inhumane response to a budget crisis our children, our elderly, our mentally ill, our developmentally disabled, and our poverty stricken families did not cause.

As you receive information about the pending cuts, please that information to me.

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