This is the letter I just submitted to President Obqmq. December 4, 2013 Dear President Obama: I am avidly following your presidency, sir. To date I would not call you a “labor” president. But you could be. I also think you may be missing an historic opportunity. You could take advantage of events unfolding on the ground: throw your support behind working men and women. They have already taken first steps, at risk to themselves and their families to stand for a living wage. As you know, millions of workers are trapped in low wage jobs with no hope of improving their lives. As laudable as it would be to enact a federal increase to the minimum wage, you will not pass such a bill through 2014 because you do not control the House. If Democrats win the House and retain the Senate, you will have a chance to do so in 2015. The press will continue to pound your administration’s ACA record as long as that is the only major domestic story. The Affordable Care Act is already in place and needs time to work. Keep working on the technicals so that as many people can sign on as possible before the next election in November of 2014. A working Affordable Care Act will help win the 2014 elections. You need to take attention off the ACA to give it time to work. I suggest a flanking maneuver. Create a new story. Come out strongly for the rights of working people. Become the toughest president to back organized labor since FDR. Take the bully pulpit to champion the rights of Americans to jobs that pay a living wage and that, in the words of Pope Francis, are work with dignity. You have an amazing new ally in the Pope. Unlooked for, but exploding in the media nevertheless. Now is the perfect time for you to take fair advantage of the forces he represents and the power of his spiritual leadership. Echo his call for greater equality. Use this opportunity to posit that America does stand for the rights of the worker against the tyranny of corporate and oligarchic interests that are usurping the place of the American “person” at the table of the American Constitution. Use the labor and equality issues to win the 2014 elections for the Congress, then pass a minimum wage law with teeth. Become the leader of workers. Stand with workers at MacDonald’s, Wal-mart, Target, etc. Protect workers from civil rights violations. Make improving the lives of low-wage workers a cornerstone of the rest of your second term. Show that the Democratic Party does not hate the poor. FDR rode to 4 election victories on the power of the labor vote. Unions have been under constant attack since 1945, and the results are evident in the lower standard of living, huge and growing financial inequalities, and curtailment of collective rights by anti-union forces, notably, but not limited to Scott Walker of Wisconsin. I stand with you, Mr. President, and I urge you to take advantage of a huge opportunity to shape the destinies of millions of Americans with very little power, but who can benefit greatly from your timely leadership. Your constituent, Paul Hayes, -National Board Certified Teacher – Retired; 35 years teaching in public schools
Posted on: Wed, 04 Dec 2013 16:44:35 +0000
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