"Middle class needs jobs, not economic warfare"

Memphis sanitation workers strike, 1968

There is a war on the middle class, and the middle class is losing. If you had any doubts about that yesterday, they should have been dispelled over the past 24 hours. Not only has a multinational front group been caught hiring spies to run an undercover smear campaign against unions and other working-class groups, but the governor of Wisconsin has threatened to call out the National Guard if government workers balk at his insane budget proposal.

My boss, Jim Hoffa, is asking state and local chambers of commerce to break away from the U.S. Chamber. Here's what he had to say:

It isn’t right for politicians to attack the thousands of dedicated public servants who make our government run instead of big banks and big corporations that caused our economic problems. Gov. Walker’s attack on working families in Wisconsin is part of a concerted, coordinated war on the middle class. It’s funded by billionaires like the Koch brothers and multinational corporations represented by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and it’s just wrong.

Working people are struggling, and now politicians backed by billionaires and multi-national corporations are trying to cut their wages and benefits. It’s clear that they’ll stop at nothing, including calling in the National Guard and running undercover smear campaigns against unions and other organizations that represent working families

He mentioned the recent revelations that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce paid for private security firms to spy on individuals who work for unions and bloggers who have criticized its agenda, and to spread lies and false accusations to discredit them. Hoffa also said,

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is dominated by multinational corporations that want to send more U.S. jobs overseas and destabilize working families by forcing down wages. It revealed its true anti-worker agenda when it decided to pay for spies and smear campaigns against groups willing to stand up to the big corporations.

I’m calling on state and local chambers of commerce to break from the U.S. Chamber if they haven’t already. That way they can show they’re truly committed to creating jobs and protecting middle-class families.

Call your local chamber and ask if they're part of the U.S. Chamber. You know what to say if they are.