Special interests bent on protecting their power have long attempted to sow division among working people in order to maintain their privilege. Our state federation’s vice president for public employees teamed up with the head of the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut (UHCFC) to denounce a recent example of this shameless tactic. Bill Garrity, RN (at right, in collage above) and Caprice Taylor Mendez (left) called for unity in “resisting the structures that entrench inequality and sap public resources:”
A recently published opinion piece by the Yankee Institute offers a tired playbook pitting working families against one another in a scramble for the crumbs left in the wake of corporate greed. The local “think tank” is pushing ads and “reports” to pressure state elected officials to further ratchet down on misguided fiscal roadblocks to progress. They seek to block investments in our communities while pretending to advocate for the same non-profit services suffering from this very divestment.
The authors vilify working people and their unions as power brokers with unchecked influence, but this portrayal masks a fundamental truth. The labor movement rose up as a way to counterbalance the outsized leverage held by corporations and the wealthy elite – like the funders and beneficiaries of the Yankee Institute.
Click here to learn more about the think tank and its dark money donors.
For decades, unions have worked tirelessly to raise wages, secure better working conditions, and ensure that economic gains are not hoarded by a privileged few but are instead shared among the many. In Connecticut, these benefits go beyond dues-paying members, lifting standards for all working people from all walks of life and in all sectors of the economy.
The Yankee Institute’s claims are more than a tired, debunked argument. It’s a cynical attempt to conceal the actual problem from the public. It’s a desperate attempt to cement systemic fiscal policies that have denied Connecticut families and small businesses access to vital services despite billions in surpluses. It prioritizes an aggressive and irresponsible debt payment program and an upside down tax structure that comforts Wall Street and the ultra-rich at the expense of the rest of us.
It’s not a call for the resources the public believes is needed to protect non-profit and public service programs and infrastructure. Instead, it’s an embrace of the status quo by siphoning off $1.4 billion annually from potential investments.
Click here to learn more about the structural roadblocks to progress in Connecticut state budgeting.
The conversation should not be about who is winning more of the crumbs, but rather who benefits by expanding the size of the plate.
Unions and other non-profit providers have been at the forefront of the struggle to tear down these fiscal roadblocks. There is no daylight between them; both are resisting the structures that entrench inequality and sap public resources that could otherwise fuel growth and opportunity.
To depict unions as an unseen hand manipulating the levers of power is a distraction from the real power brokers: the special interest, billionaire-funded groups like the Yankee Institute who defend these restrictive fiscal policies in order to protect the status quo.
Click here for union leaders’ recent op-ed on clearing the roadblocks to progress.
Let’s reject the narrative pitting working people against one another and recognize that unions and non-profits are, in fact, natural allies. Both have a vested interest in a fairer, more just tax system that holds corporate interests accountable and ensures Connecticut can invest in its communities.
By turning our focus away from scapegoating organized labor and toward dismantling the fiscal roadblocks that prevent equitable growth, we can begin to right-side our tax system and embark on a path to broad-based prosperity.
Let us not be misled by divisive rhetoric, but instead unite in a shared vision for a fair and flourishing Connecticut.
Click here for Taylor Mendez and Garrity’s original published letter at CT Viewpoints.
Editor’s Note: credit for image with Taylor Mendez to The CT Mirror‘s Shahrzad Rasekh.
