Hoffa: Middle-Class Needs Jobs, Not Economic Warfare

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International Brotherhood of Teamsters

Feb 11, 2011, 04:37 ET

Teamsters President Calls on Local Chambers to Break from U.S. Chamber

WASHINGTON, Feb. 11, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa today said concerted and coordinated attacks on government workers will kill jobs in the states where the attacks are launched.

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Today, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker not only announced a job-destroying, budget plan that attacks that the state's public sector workers and their unions. He then told the news media he had prepared the National Guard for problems that might arise from the proposal. This sounds like a page out of the 1930s.

"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," Hoffa said. "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," Hoffa said.

Hoffa was alluding to 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.

"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," Hoffa said.

"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," Hoffa said. "That way they can show they're truly committed to creating jobs and protecting middle-class families."

Founded in 1903, the Teamsters Union represents 1.4 million hardworking men and women throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, including thousands of law enforcement officers in over 1,400 departments and agencies.

SOURCE International Brotherhood of Teamsters