USW Statement on New Hampshire Budget Amendment Ending Public Employee Bargaining:

Contact: Tony Montana (USW) – 412-562-2592

PITTSBURGH – The United Steelworkers (USW) today denounced efforts by extremists on the New Hampshire House of Representatives Finance Committee who have introduced an amendment to the state budget that would effectively strip the state’s public employees of their right to bargain collectively.

“These attacks on middle class workers and their families in New Hampshire and elsewhere are motivated by the same extremist political agenda that rewards the greed of failed corporations with billions of dollars in bailouts and tax cuts for the ultra-rich and their country club conservative colleagues,” said USW International President Leo W. Gerard.

“Working people are already struggling to get by, working hard and often sacrificing for the greater good,” Gerard said. “Now, the CEOs and the politicians they supported in the recent elections seek to cut wages, weaken pensions and reduce health benefits adding to unfairness and undermining democracy.”

“Undermining unions and the middle class will ruin New Hampshire, not fix it,” said USW District 4 Director William Pienta. “The amendment proposed last night by these extremists isn’t about economics or the state budget.”

“The American people know that attacking teachers, firefighters, snow plow drivers and their unions who sacrifice every day is the wrong priority,” Pienta said, ”and the focus should be on creating good, family supporting jobs and building a truly 21st century economy.”

The largest industrial union in North America, the United Steelworkers represents 1.2 million active and retired workers in a wide variety of workplaces, including thousands of public sector workers in New Hampshire and elsewhere.

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