The Republican Governor and Legislature of Wisconsin have stripped the state’s Public Employees of their Union rights, but why should we care? They aren’t our families that will lose their jobs, it isn’t our children that will have 60 students in their class, and it isn’t our safety that will be compromised. This won’t affect us right? WRONG!!!

AN INJURY TO ONE IS AN INJURY TO ALL: Any and every attack on America’s Unions hurts all of our ability to win for our families. It was Unions that won us social security, a minimum wage, a 40hr workweek, weekends, an end to child labor, the American’s with Disabilities Act, OSHA, and created the largest middle class in the history of Mankind. Anything that weakens America’s Union Movement’s ability to stand for a decent middleclass life strengthens the ability for the ultra-rich and Corporations to continue stealing our wealth and funnel it to themselves.

GUAM’S FAMILIES RELY ON A STRONG U.S. UNION MOVEMENT: Many people don’t realize that it was the AFL-CIO’s and AFT’s lobbying that got Guam included in President Obama’s Healthcare reform bill which meant 100s of Millions of Dollars to Guam’s families. Many people don’t know that the AFT’s lobbying created DEED, Headstart, Esquelan Puengi, Summer school and millions of education dollars every year.

$12MILLION PER MONTH IN FOOD STAMPS? THANKS UNIONS!!!: There would never have been a food stamp (quest) without US unions. Without this money coming into our island’s economy every month, not only will thousands of families and children starve but our entire economy will self destruct. Crime will sky rocket, people that work at supermarkets will lose their jobs and Guam’s public structure will lose millions of tax dollars which support education, health and safety for our families.

GFT’S TEACHER CONTRACT HAS PROTECTED PUBLIC EDUCATION ON GUAM FOR OVER 40YEARS: Wisconsin teachers can no longer bargain class size or anything else that has to do with the quality of education for their children like Guam’s teachers can. Only GFT’s contract ensures that we have reasonable class sizes (28-1) where as they are projected to go up to 60 to 1 in WI, ID, MI and other states where collective bargaining rights are under attack. Only GFT’s contract ensures that every school has a school nurse. Only GFT’s contract ensures that, highly qualified, certified teachers are teaching our children. When any right-wing corporate attack on the collective bargaining right of Teachers succeeds, it gives confidence to others to attempt the same.