SEOEA e-Pad

(Vol 2, Issue 1)

Greetings! 

VOTE NO ON ISSUE 2 

The Senate Bill 5 referendum has become State Issue 2 for the November 2011 ballot.  Even though we and our partner organizations amassed one of the largest numbers of signatures for a referendum, we cannot rest, thinking we have already won.  We and our partner groups do not have enough votes to defeat this issue ourselves.  Many people who signed the petition did so thinking it needed to be decided by the people, yet are in favor of the bill.  Others are having second thoughts as indicated by recent polls that show the difference between those against Issue 2 and those who support it has been cut in half in recent weeks.  It is up to each and every one of us to talk to our friends, family and neighbors who may still be undecided and remind them that this bill is "Unsafe, Unfair, and Hurts All of Us." 

Remind them that if this bill stands, police, firefighters and EMTs will no longer be able to negotiate working conditions that affect their safety and that of the community.  Teachers with larger class sizes will find it harder to monitor their students to keep them safe and meet the conditions of No Child Left Behind, anti-bullying and other such legislation plus individualize instruction according IEPs and 504 Plans. 

It is unfair that public workers are being accused of causing and are being asked to bear the burden of salvaging our economic problems caused by Wall Street mis-management while those who did cause it are being bailed out, given large tax breaks and those who wrote this law, created a loophole that exempted themselves from its provisions even though they are also public workers.

 It hurts all of us since once they break the public worker unions, the Republicans and their big business contributors will go after the private sector unions, essentially pushing middle class workers into lower paying jobs with no benefits and no protections against unreasonable working conditions and demands.  With fewer middle class workers, tax collections will become even lower, insurance rates will go up when there are fewer first responders to emergencies and who may respond as a volunteer rather than being on station ready to respond.  Poor public schools with few educational offerings are not going to attract the businesses we need to strengthen our economy.  This bill does nothing to create jobs, but it has the potential to kill many.

Strong public schools in strong communities that support their public workers will help to bring jobs and improvement of our economy.  We are all taxpayers who realize we need to watch the backs of those who watch ours.

Get on board!  Attend a rally, go on a door-to-door canvass, join the Friends, Family and Neighbors program and keep talking to everyone you can about how this bill must be defeated.

Jeff Slattery, SEOEA Communications