WASHINGTON, D.C. – The following statement was offered by Edward Wytkind, President of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO, in observance of Labor Day 2008:
“As Americans celebrate Labor Day this year, it is important to reflect on the meaning of the day and the current state of working America. In the past eight years, transportation workers and all workers across the country have suffered through an anti-worker Administration – a government that sees its role as protecting corporate balance sheets instead of protecting workers’ safety, security, jobs and pensions.
“Under this Administration, transportation workers have lived through a failure to make our transportation system safer, deliberate attempts to weaken collective bargaining rights, and inaction on vital transportation security measures. Workers have lived through chronic underfunding and understaffing of key transportation agencies and programs that protect workers and the public, as well as a failure to support our decaying infrastructure.
“America needs a government that works for all, not for the few. America needs government leaders that will fight for them. This fall, working people will have the chance to change the direction of this country.
“The best way working families can observe Labor Day is by working the next two months to bring a pro-worker President into the White House.”
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The Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO, represents 32 member unions in the aviation, rail, transit, trucking, highway, longshore, maritime and related industries. For more information, visit www.ttd.org.
