Forward

JOURNAL: ISSUE 3 - 2012

On November 6th, Americans will go to the polls to elect the President and Vice President of the United States, with some casting their ballots even before then with in-person early voting now in effect in a number of states. Whether you vote early, absentee or on the 6th, rarely have the differences between presidential candidates been as stark or the stakes as high. 

On one hand, we can continue moving forward toward a stronger middle class with leaders like Barack Obama and Joe Biden, who are fully committed to building job opportunities for BAC and building trades members through infrastructure investment, expanded use of Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) and tough prevailing wage protections. In the wake of the worst downturn since the Great Depression, they pulled the country out of the depths by standing with working people and supporting policies that reflect the words of President John F. Kennedy, "a rising tide lifts all boats." In 2009, with the economy hanging by a thread, Obama-Biden pushed through the stimulus bill, creating and saving millions of jobs. When Detroit was down for the count, they acted decisively to save the auto industry, putting even more back to work. With health care costs going through the roof, propelled by the growing ranks of the uninsured, they tackled health care reform. And they cut taxes for middle class taxpayers more than a dozen times. Their detailed proposals to expand the recovery in the months ahead include calling on America's wealthiest to pay their fare share in taxes, penalizing firms that send U.S. jobs overseas, and safeguarding Social Security and Medicare. 

On the other hand, we can change course and go back to Bush-era policies with Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, who support deep tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires, ending financial regulations designed to prevent another economic meltdown, slashing federal college loans, and privatizing Social Security and Medicare that will mean saying good-bye to guaranteed benefits and hello to private accounts and vouchers. Their plan to create millions of jobs may lack specifics but we can be fairly certain that Romney will make good on his 'Day 1' pledge to ban PLAs on federal construction jobs, among other anti-union measures – be sure to read Local 3 MA/ME/NH/ RI President Chuck Raso's cautionary comments on Romney's record as Massachusetts Governor on page 12. 

The fallacy of Romney's supply-side economic model or "trickle-down fairy dust" as it has been called was underscored by former President Bill Clinton, who knows a thing or two about economic vibrancy. Clinton noted on September 5th that when it comes to creating jobs, Democrats have nearly a 2-to-1 advantage over Republicans: "Since 1961, the Republicans have held the White House 28 years, the Democrats 24 [years]. In those 52 years, our private economy has produced 66 million private-sector jobs. So what's the job score? Republicans 24 million, Democrats 42 [million]." 

We know it's been a very tough road for many BAC members and our Union these past few years. We all hope that with the election behind us, we will continue down the road to greater prosperity, a stronger economy and a lot more work for all our members.

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BAC Communications
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