Middle-class wages, at least for the majority of people, are the invention of American unions. If big labor dies, then say goodbye to the American Middle Class. The middle class and the strength of unions are closely tied together. In 1968, the share of income going to the nation’s middle class was 53.2 percent, when 28 percent of all workers were members of unions. Since then, union membership steadily declined alongside the share of income going to the middle class. By 2010, the middle class only received 46.5 percent of revenue as union membership dropped to less than 12 percent of workers.
Nationally, there are more white men in blue-collar and public safety unions than any other ethnic group. Many members have turned away from their support of the Democratic Party. You would think that the many attacks that Republicans have taken at unionized labor, these same white men would believe that their rights, safety, and benefits would be in jeopardy.
White males overwhelmingly make up close to 70 percent of all law enforcement nationally. President Trump’s rhetoric about Blue Lives Matter and the Republican Party vocal support that they support law and order was a faced to gain the support of the law enforcement that has come under fire nationally for the many questionable shootings of people of color across the nation.
Both Trump and the Republican Party has used their whiteness along with dog whistle politics to gain an advantage of the majority while law enforcement unions and associations are slowly being stabbed in the back.
Law enforcement professionals, unions and fraternal organizations primarily, the Fraternal Order of Police who openly supported Trump on his “return to law and order” rhetoric.
You have voted your way to disassemble your right to unionize shortly. You have chosen to vote for your whiteness instead of your interest of survival as labor unions and rights under your collective bargaining.
Republican Congressman, Steve King of Iowa, and I know many of law enforcement unions and fraternal organizations like the Federation of Police FOP vote Republican and nationally supported Trump, introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce.
- HR. 785, introduced, February 1, 2017, aim to preserve and protect the free choice of individual employees to form, join, or assist labor organizations, or to refrain from such activities. This bill rolls back all the protections of SEC.
- AMENDMENTS TO THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS ACT and SEC.
- AMENDMENT TO THE RAILWAY LABOR ACT.
There is no exemption for any law enforcement unions or unions that represent First Responders.
The Republican policies nationally and locally have attack collective bargaining, the rights and benefits of all Civil Service. White middle-class families historically have held these jobs. Police unions will be silent and confused because the party that they have supported has now betrayed them in support of big business and Corporate America. The decision to support Trump will adversely affect the white middle-class structure throughout the nation.
Will they push back on President Trump and the Republican Party after they have openly supported the FOP’s facial bias agenda of repealing laws that give oversight of law enforcement and racial profiling? We have to wait and see.
When examining the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), President Trumps First 100 Days memorandum of action in law enforcement. You will not see anything that advances health and family safety of law enforcement. What you read is a right-wing agenda. A right-wing agenda of the oppression of people of color backed by one of the largest law enforcement organizations in the county.
Why would a law enforcement organization like the FOP want to repeal and replace healthcare (Obama Care) for millions of people? This is blatant hypocrisy by the FOP when law enforcement officers throughout the nation don’t have enough healthcare or stripped of healthcare when hurt on the job.
Believe it or not, police unions should be vocal supporters of the greater whole of labor unions in support of proper wages and benefits. Unions as a whole have long championed minimum wage bills, from the creation of the federal minimum wage with the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938 to the most recent increase in 2009. Not surprisingly states with higher levels of unionization are more likely to have higher minimum wages. Due to the federal minimum wage, the relationship between higher unionization and higher minimum wages is more evident for states with minimum wages above the federal level.
This document by the FOP support of Trump has blurred the line between Right Wing Organization and Collective Bargaining Unit for the many Law Enforcement Officers that they represent. The result will be the end of unions, as we know it and a loss or representation of law enforcement wages and family benefits for those officers who sacrifice their lives on a daily basis. If this bill passes and is signed by Trump into law, blame the FOP!
HR 785, THE Right to Work Act by Damon K Jones on Scribd
FOP President Trump First 100 Days by Damon K Jones on Scribd
