19/02/2014
Good Federal Jobs or Walmart’s Low Wages?: At AFGE’s annual legislative conference last week, AFGE National President J. David Cox Sr. asked a pointed question facing the country and every American: What legacy would we leave to the next generation? Good federal jobs with real retirement security or Walmart’s low wages, junk health insurance and retirement in poverty? A strong union that improves workers’ lives and their agencies’ mission or a powerless one where nobody has a voice at work? A robust public sector serving the American people or a country run by greedy corporations? The Walmart model is not the model for the U.S. government to follow, Cox said, and it’s up to AFGE and our members to do whatever it takes to win our future of choice for the next generation. AFGE needs to fight to prevent future pay freezes and furloughs and to end sequestration forever.
“We’re AFGE and we’re not taking crap from nobody, no more,” Cox told the fired-up AFGE crowd. “We’re going to swing with both fists and we’re going to take it to Capitol Hill and whoop their ass, that’s what we’re gonna do!”
AFGE National Secretary-Treasurer Eugene Hudson said there are many AFGE members who are still suffering from the effects of sequestration, furloughs, and pay freezes, and we need to stop this suffering.
“AFGE takes seriously the responsibility to protect and represent our members," he said. "We also take seriously that these members must be treated with fairness and honesty and respect. We must fight for this respect and we will fight for this respect.”