The big picture.

Trumka. AFL-CIO Leader. Refuses to talk about the big picture that the rich and the corporations have looted the economy and are responsible for the deficits and they should pay.

There is a lot of coverage in the mass privately owned media about the struggle against the attacks on public sector workers rights. There are many interviews with union leaders. But regrettably we have to say one thing. Most of these union leaders are very ineffective when they speak. Overwhelmingly they do not explain the issues and explain why all workers should fight and why what is taking place is so unjust.

This is because they will not talk about the big picture. What do I mean by the big picture? I mean the overall capitalist system and what has been going on in the country. Since Reagan there has been an increased offensive against the working class in this country. This is the big picture. This offensive continued under all presidents since then and was stepped up under George W Bush and Obama. It involves cuts in wages, benefits, conditions, rights and increased work hours and rates of work.

But this is not all. It has been accompanied by huge reductions in the taxes paid by the rich and the corporations. And at the same time by the looting of the country's banks and financial institutions by Wall Street, the Banks and the rich. And of course there was the huge bail out. This is the big picture.

The crisis in the country's federal budget deficit and the state's budgets deficits cannot be understood except in the context of the increased looting of the country by the rich and the huge decrease in the share of taxes that they pay compared with working people. This is the reality. All studies show this. This is the big picture.

But what has to be asked here is this. Why is this reality, this big picture, not at the forefront of the struggle of the public sector workers? It is the easiest of cases to make. The capitalists' own studies show it to be true again and again. The country is in debt, the states are in debt because the rich and the corporations are paying much much less share of taxes. And at the same time they are fighting two wars in the Middle East to protect their oil and gas profits.

The union leaders refuse to talk about this big picture. But this is precisely what has to be talked about. The employers and their governors and politicians must be put on the defensive. Let them defend these policies of letting the rich pay less taxes and fighting wars to defend the oil and gas wealth of the rich and trying to make the working class bear the burden.

Why do the union leaders remain quiet when it comes to the big picture? It is not hard to understand. We have explained it on this blog many times. The union leaders are completely committed to the capitalist system. Being so they believe it is the right of the capitalists to do what they want with their wealth. It is enraging to see union leaders on TV shows and never mention the looting of the country by the rich. Liberal journalists are far more likely to raise this than the union leaders. It is a disgrace.

What has to be done is to put the big picture in front of the movement. Explain how the rich have and are looting the country and this is the cause of the deficits. And explain that the rich must be made to pay. This is the way to win the struggles that are taking place all over the country. The union leaders must stop kowtowing to the rich and their system. They must explain the big picture and mobilize the movement. The left and radical movement must have the same approach and build caucuses in the workplaces, the unions at all levels and develop an alternative approach and leadership to the one that presently exists.

Sean.