The American Dream

by: Bill Orr

Thu Feb 24, 2011 at 01:00:00 PM EST

Public employees' contracts are no longer untouchable for any politician who wants to stay in office ... The question now is whether this year will mark a major test of Christie's staying power ... and whether his argument will begin to lose its resonance ... Sooner or later, most people tend to tire of the boorish guy at the party." - Matt Bai NYTimes 02/24/11

Tomorrow in Trenton is a pivotal moment - an opportunity to support fairness for public sector employees, oppose their demonization by Governor Christie, and restore opportunities for all New Jerseyans. Although our governor says it is the unions not the employees he opposes, it is the employees who bear the brunt of his excessive demands. If successful, can an attack on collective bargaining be far behind? And even more attacks on all but the wealthiest?

New Jersey has a rich and long history of supporting the labor movement. In 1835 children employed in the silk mills in Paterson went on a strike for 11 hour day/6 days a week work. In 1915 when the famous labor leader Joe Hill was arrested and later executed on trumped up murder charges, he penned the famous words, "Don't mourn - organize." On this same day twenty rioting strikers were shot by factory guards at Roosevelt NJ.

It is the rise of this labor movement which allowed so many Americans a good standard of living. However, within the last 30 years, the rewards of a growing economy have increasingly gone to those on the top, such that the top 1% received 36% of all gains in household income. While those in unions still retain reasonable salaries and good benefits, their counterparts in the thriving private sector were squeezed out of unions and denied their rising share of  salary and benefits, except for those at the very top. Now politicians take advantage of the schism between the public and private sector. The fact that the middle class as a whole has been denied its share is used as a wedge against those in the public sector. The true need is not to punish the public sector but for there to be an equitable distribution of wealth so that all working Americans can share the benefits.

Tomorrow's protest at noon in front of the State House is a must to stop Christie's relentless race to the bottom. We can not rely on most people tiring of his boorish behavior. The rally  is not only a cry for justice for teachers and cops. In an environment in which the governor pits groups against each other, public sector employees have become the last bastion. Tomorrow is a call for an end to policies which only benefit the very rich, and a rebalancing so that all of us New Jerseyans can once again participate in the American Dream.