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No Mandate A knockout in the boxing ring is usually more exciting than a victory by points. Is that why the medias talking heads have taken a very close presidential election and talked about a "mandate?" Fifty-one percent to forty-eight percent was a win on points. However much the networks want to show blood, a presidential election is not a prizefight. It is an expression of the complex hopes and fears, attitudes and beliefs of millions. These multitudes did not give George Bush a mandate. Americans are clearly divided on issues like abortion, guns and gay marriage. But new polls are proving that the "moral issues" explanation of the election was superficial. Is it a moral question when workers who have lost good-paying factory positions are forced to work three jobs and still not have enough money to feed their families? Voters in Florida and Nevada think so. These "red" states opted on November 2 to raise their state minimum wage to $6.15 an hourone dollar above the federal minimum wagewith inflation adjustments. The Florida referendum passed by seventy-one percent. In other states, Election Day measures passed that provided for education to be funded before other programs or rejected property tax cuts because voters were concerned that critical social programs would be destroyed. The Republicans have already launched an effort in Congress to establish private Social Security accounts. In brief, their plan would transfer billions of dollars from Social Security to private Wall Street firms, some of the Republicans largest contributors. President Bush has no mandate for the dismantling of successful government programs, such as Social Security and Medicare and putting them in the hands of big business. The administration has proposed changes that would, in effect, dissolve unions in governmental agencies dealing with national security. President Bush has no mandate to destroy our unions. In fact, polls show that a growing number of Americans would like to be represented by a union, including thousands of unorganized workers who supported the AFL-CIOs campaign against the administrations overtime pay take-away. And we can only brace ourselves for the expected onslaught on worker issues that may be off the radar screen of many Americans. Im talking about possibilities such as gutting prevailing wage laws, the rights of unions to participate in political action, an increase in suffocating reporting requirements for unions and a further weakening of the National Labor Relations Board. No group in America has any greater right or ability to speak up for a fair deal for workers than the members of the IBEW. Even the news media is beginning to realize this. Steve Ratcliff, a Circleville, Ohio, IBEW member who lost his job with the shutdown of Thomson, Inc. gave eloquent testimony in a PBS "Frontline" documentary on Wal-Marts destructive impact on domestic manufacturers. Retired IBEW members from the Arizona copper mines and smelters of Asarco (Grupo Mexico) were featured in a Wall Street Journal series on the retiree health care crisis. It should make our blood boil that their employer is actually suing these pensioners to escape the legal obligation to fund retiree medical insurance. This administration has no mandate to ignore the needs of millions of Americans, like our Asarco retirees and workers at Thomson who already have lost or could lose adequate health care insurance. We are in dangerous times. But I am confident that we will find safety and a secure future for our children by claiming and fighting for a new mandate for Americas working families. Our values are Americas values. As always, thanks for being part of this fight. And I add my best wishes to all for a warm and happy holiday season. Jeremiah J. OConnor International Secretary-Treasurer
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December 2004 IBEW Journal
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Secretary-