Catamount Tavern News Service, July 7th, 2007, Vermont- The upcoming presidential election this fall provides a difficult challenge for trade unionists in America, with dwindling numbers and the race to the bottom in full swing (the United Auto Workers, allowed two tier wages in their last contract, and now the automobile manufacturing Unions in Mexico are too--- under the threat of moving plants to Asia in both counts). Those of us who are left still have a level of comfort and complacency which needs to be reversed - along with a significant dash of upper - class blue collar prejudice. Open - ended international trade agreements which totally ignore human and environmental rights have struck a deep chord of fear in the souls of the majority of American workers. Escalating fuel and healthcare costs combined are forcing many of us to decide to drop our health insurance so we can afford to get to work, to pay our mortgage, and to pay for our food and heat. I say that's great isn't it? We give ourselves a raise by eliminating our health insurance? That's no raise - believe me, and who's really getting a raise? Do you know anyone? Nobody I know. A more devious form of slavery and oppression is hard to imagine. We cannot afford to let racial prejudice, or fear, interfere with how we vote in the upcoming election. Remember our fight is not with each other, it is with the "have's". We the "have-nots" actually carry a lot more leverage than we are led to believe, and I say that honestly from my own personal experience. And yes, we do "have" to get the democrats to be better democrats, to hold them accountable to us so we can have more dignity and better lives, but not on the backs of other workers. Realize this. It could just as easily be us, and to me it seems to be getting closer to that every day.

*Dan Brush an electrician and a print worker. He is currently Business Agent for the Lithographers Local 1-L-Teamsters, and is a former State President of the Vermont AFL-CIO.