Skip to main content

ATTENTION: This site is no longer active but remains as an archive.

Iraq Veterans Against the War has become About Face: Veterans Against the War. About Face can be found at aboutfaceveterans.org

Iraq Veterans Against the War

Join IVAW

Donate to IVAW

  • About
    • Founding of IVAW
    • Mission, Values, and Vision
    • War in Afghanistan
    • Why We Are against the Wars
    • Resolutions
    • IVAW Timeline
    • Board of Directors
    • Advisory Committee
    • Staff
  • Events
  • Campaigns
    • Operation Recovery
    • Winter Soldier
      • Breakdown of the Military
      • Civilian Testimony
      • Corporate Pillaging
      • Cost of War at Home
      • Crisis in Veterans Healthcare
      • Future of GI Resistance
      • Gender and Sexuality
      • Legacy of GI Resistance
      • Racism and War
      • Response to DoD
      • Rules of Engagement
      • Press Coverage
      • Press Releases
    • Right to Heal
  • Members
  • Resources
    • AWOL
    • Active Duty
    • Conscientious Objector
    • Depleted Uranium
    • History of Resistance
    • IRR Reactivation
    • Lariam
    • PTSD
    • Profiles of Resisters
    • Resources for Veterans
    • Stop Loss
    • Women's Resources
    • Mesothelioma
  • Press
  • Contact
    • Press
    • Speaker Request

We Are Public Employees Too!

published by Jose Vasquez on 02/24/11 2:53pm
Posted to: 
Board

Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) calls on all U.S. military service members to refuse and resist any mobilization against workers organizing to protect their basic rights. IVAW stands in solidarity with the multitude gathered in Madison, Wisconsin and many other cities to defend their unions.

Iraq Veterans Against the War to Troops: “We Are Public Employees Too!”

We believe military service members are public employees too. It is dishonorable to suggest that military personnel should be deployed against teachers, health care providers, firefighters, police officers, and other government employees, many of whom are themselves serving in the National Guard.

Workers with prior military service often seek jobs in the public sector because government agencies are the only employers that follow hiring preferences for veterans as a matter of law. According to the Army Times, veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan are unemployed at a rate of 15.2%, higher than the national average. The picture is even worse for African American veterans who face nearly double the rate of unemployment. Protecting the rights of workers in public sector unions ensures that veterans have a chance to secure a decent job, earning a living wage and good benefits.

Madison, WI is ground zero for a fight that will likely define the relationship between public sector unions and the governments that employ them for decades to come. Similar to the federal government's defeat of the 1980 Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) strike, which signaled the beginning of a thirty-year decline of real wages, benefits, and union membership for private sector workers. What happens in Madison today is likely to affect whether governments across the country can destroy a decent standard of living for public sector workers in the future.

Governor Scott Walker recently stated that he was preparing the National Guard to respond to “labor unrest” following the introduction of union-busting legislation in Wisconsin. Governor Walker has attempted to justify this attack on collective bargaining by pointing to state budget shortfalls. Missing from this explanation is an acknowledgment that these deficits have been created and exacerbated by the ongoing trillion dollar wars and occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Meanwhile, federal and local governments across the U.S. are cutting back on the public sector.

Troops have been called out in the past against worker strikes, campus protests, and urban uprisings. However, recent events in Egypt and numerous examples from U.S. history have shown that service members have the power to side with the people and refuse to use violence against their fellow citizens. Troops activated for duty in Madison, WI will have to decide if public sector workers are really the enemy. IVAW says they are not and that troops should support workers fighting for decent jobs, wages, and benefits.

We know firsthand that the U.S. military is already overextended from a decade at war. Through our Operation Recovery campaign, we have been fighting for the right of our troops to heal, rather than being involuntarily redeployed with severe physical and psychological injuries. Adding another mission to an already overburdened military for the purposes of suppressing the rights of workers is irresponsible and not worthy of our service.

If you are a service member facing mobilization or know someone in the military who is you can contact IVAW via email at ivaw@ivaw.org or by phone at (646) 723-0989, M-F 10am-6pm EST.

Bin Laden Dead, What Next?

May 3, 2011, New York City Sunday night IVAW learned with the rest of the nation that Osama Bin Laden was killed and his body captured by a team of U.S. Special Forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan.  In light of our...

We Are Public Employees Too!

Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) calls on all U.S. military service members to refuse and resist any mobilization against workers organizing to protect their basic rights. IVAW stands in solidarity with the...
Jose Vasquez's picture

Tunisia's Spark & Egypt's Flame

By Phyllis Bennis, Institute for Policy Studies and IVAW Advisory Committee. "Is this how empires end, with people flooding the streets, demanding the resignation of their leaders and forcing local dictators out?"...
Sara Beining's picture

Update from the Secretary

Hello all, I have received a few emails from members wondering where those Board minutes are located at.  I sincerely apologise for getting this out behind schedule (and I still have one more I need to upload), but I...
Jeremy Stainthorp Berggren's picture

I Met Uriah

I met Uriah at the gates of hell Told me this is where soldiers dwell I said, dear sir, but your honor, your virtue I thought that god, that god would protect you Send you up to Heaven's gate Up there we'd...

Human cost of OIF & OEF

As IVAW continues to end the current occupations called OIF and OEF, the human cost continues to rise in the illusive name of "freedom." Coalition fatalities: Iraq 4711 Afghanistan 1736      http://www.icasualties.org...

Pages

  • « First
  • ‹ Prev
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • Next ›
  • Last »

Supporter Newsletter!

Donations

Make a single donation or become an IVAW sustainer by making your donation a recurring one. Please consider making your generous gift right now.
Donate Online Today!

Speaker Request

Please be advised that we get many speaker requests, but regret that we are sometimes unable to fill them.
Speaker Request

Joining IVAW

Iraq Veterans Against the War is open to Active Duty, National Guard and Reservists who have served since 09/11/2001.
Join IVAW

Navigation

  • About
  • Events
  • Campaigns
  • Committees
  • Chapters
  • Members
  • Resources
  • Contact