NALC President Fredric V. Rolando outlines union’s national commitment to the cause of workers across the country.

NALC to play prominent role in defending, promoting labor

“The economic crisis—triggered by decades of reckless deregulation and an out-of-control financial sector—caused the economy to crash, unemployment to soar, tax revenues to plummet and pension funds to tank in value,” Rolando said. “The notion of ‘shared sacrifice’ and asking those who really caused the crisis to help close the budget deficits is entirely absent from the national debate. We have to change that.”

Following an emergency strategy planning meeting of the AFL-CIO Executive Council on March 2, Rolando outlined labor’s strategy to help turn back this assault on working people and their unions, and the role the NALC will play:

—The NALC Executive Council has authorized a substantial contribution to a national media and voter canvassing campaign.

—The union also will provide dozens of full-time activists to work in several states to resist the ideological assault on unions.

—And the NALC will join with the entire labor movement for a national day of action on April 4 to mobilize public support for the rights of all workers to organize and collectively bargain in both the private and public sectors.

“April 4 is the anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., who died in Memphis trying to help the sanitation workers of that city win dignity and bargaining rights on the job,” Rolando said.

Details will be provided on the NALC website. Members can also keep up with the very latest news and activities related to the national campaign via the NALC’s Activist Alert blog at nalcactivistalert.com.

In the coming weeks, the NALC also will recruit volunteer activists to help with the single biggest union-organizing campaign now underway in the United States. Through this month and next, nearly 50,000 transportation security officers who work at the nation’s airports will be voting in a union-recognition election.

A letter from the AFL-CIO Executive Council, encouraging local branches from all unions to step up their participation in central labor councils and state federations of labor, is posted at nalc.org.Rolando urged all NALC branches to join local CLCs and state federations as resources permit. “If the corporate-financed politicians, think tanks and special interests succeed in stripping state and local workers of their rights, it will be only a matter of time before they turn their sights on postal employees and our rights,” the president said. “Let us join together and stop them now. Let’s use the energy and solidarity of the fights in Wisconsin and elsewhere to strengthen our union and to spark an historic drive to rebuild the labor movement in the private sector as well.

AFL-CIO Letter