Attacks on unions are a ‘badge of honor,’ speaker says

“Forces of nature” aren’t the culprit, political journalist David Sirota told dele­gates at the Public Employees breakfast meeting; rather they are the result of “deliberate, well-crafted public ­policies [that were] designed to create this outcome.”

For big business, said Sirota, the payoff has been record-breaking corporate profits, greater employee workloads without corresponding pay increases and less government regulation. For the wealthy, it has been tax cuts and tax-preferred­ “savings” vehicles.

For working families, how­ever, the outcome has been the proverbial race to the bottom—including attacks on fundamental workers’ rights, stagnant wages and higher costs for life’s necessities.

Influence peddling by big business is the subject Sirota tackles in his book, ­Hostile Takeover: How Big Money and Corruption Have Conquered Our Government—and How We Can Take It Back (released in May).

The former Capitol Hill staffer and campaign strategist said his book serves to expose “ordinary citizens” to what is going on in Washington, D.C., and state capitals across the ­country—a very intense economic class war.

“The labor movement is one of the last frontlines in fighting against the hostile takeover,” Sirota said, noting that political rhetoric and public policies geared toward undermining the strength and viability of unions is a testament to the labor movement’s power.

“Unions, in general, are among the most viciously attacked organizations in this country and that is a badge of honor,” Sirota said. “It says that the powers that be understand that unions are among the last frontlines fighting for ordinary citizens.”

Sirota is on the frontlines, too. In addition to educating the public and debunking public policy myths through various mediums, Sirota is co-founder of the Progressive States Network. The network is the progressive movement’s response to the anti-government, corporation-sponsored­ American Legislative Exchange Council, which, Sirota said has been one of the fundamental powers in pushing this hostile takeover. (ALEC is one of the players in the Taxpayer Bill of Rights movement, as well as pension privatization and school voucher efforts.)

Sirota is optimistic that ordinary people can and will reclaim government, but it’s going to take “talking to your neighbors, being active in your communities and educating your fellow citizens.”