LABOR LEADER SARA NELSON ON GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN: "NO OTHER COUNTRY IN THE WORLD WOULD PUT UP WITH THIS."

Don't let anyone tell you it was House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's resolve or the caving of the Republicans in the Senate that were the only factors leading to the end of the end of the federal government shutdown. Those were important parts of the equation but do not underestimate what happened last week when the airports on the east coast had to slow down because there were not enough air traffic controllers to allow the planes to operate safely.

This is from the NY Magazine:

On Friday morning, air traffic controllers missed their second paycheck due to the government shutdown. Many called out sick, resulting in delayed flights at some of the nation’s busiest airports, including LaGuardia, Newark, and Hartfield-Jackson in Atlanta. Now, flight attendants may also walk out. Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, told New York on Friday afternoon that she “just finished” recording a video message to members urging them to get to the offices of their congressional representatives until the shutdown is resolved.

“We’re mobilizing immediately,” Nelson said. Asked if this meant that flight attendants will not be going to work, she responded, “Showing up to work for what? If air traffic controllers can’t do their jobs, we can’t do ours.”

She previously talked about a general strike to end the government shutdown. Amen! It's about time.

Many people are wondering why it took so long for the federal workers to finally say they have had enough of working without pay. They were afraid. It took 35 days without pay for them to say enough. We see it in the schools in NYC how scared people are on the job. This needs to stop and it is around the country for teachers. Maybe, labor isn't going to take it any longer.

Here is part of an interview Sara Nelson did with Slate to explain:

Federal workers are not allowed to strike or participate in any kind of sickout. Did you speak to anyone from those groups about what it was like to work without pay and be prohibited from taking any kind of concerted labor action to protest those conditions?  

It was incredibly frustrating. What we heard from all over the country was, “They could end this. Why are they staying on the job? We did away with slavery with the 13^th Amendment.” There was a lot of confusion about how this could even take place. No other country in the world would put up with this.

They felt really stuck. Don’t forget, if they struck, they were putting it all on the line. Not only were they sacrificing potentially their health care, their pensions, the right to ever work for the federal government again, but they could be prosecuted for striking. That’s how fundamentally they are not able to take action when there is such an egregious act against them. That’s outrageous and that’s something that has to change.

Do you think the legacy of the air traffic controllers strike under Reagan was something people were thinking about? 

Of course that’s something people were thinking about. There were strikers in 1981 who were indicted. There’s history here that people were following. Reagan made that a really popular move in the private sector as well, and that’s when the right to strike was diminished in this country, and when labor rights and labor membership hit a steady decline. Are we better off for it? I think what we’re seeing, with the teachers strikes, the hotel workers who took on Marriott and won, is that people are not willing to put up with it anymore. People are willing to do more to fight for their families because they have been pushed so far, and there has been so much productivity put on the backs of the American worker without any increases in wages.

Going forward, what’s the legacy of this 35-day period for federal workers and the labor movement more generally?
We can decide to fight for real labor law in this country with the fundamental principle that if you go to work you get paid. And you have the right to strike if you are not given that

Please watch this video to see Sara Nelson, a real labor leader.