Where I Stand: Union ads ‘tell the facts’ about GOP Medicare cuts

Tuesday, Aug. 6, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

THE AFL-CIO political ads have generated much discussion in Nevada and across the country. In today's guest column, Claude "Blackie" Evans, executive secretary-treasurer of the Nevada State AFL-CIO, discusses the union's rationale for the ads.

THE CURRENT LEADERSHIP of Congress has declared war on the working men and women of Nevada and the nation. This war started shortly after the inauguration of the current leadership. Why is Newt Gingrich leading the attack against workers and their unions? In an attempt to obtain the support of the general public, the AFL-CIO has been running television ads on 176 stations in 33 congressional districts, including Las Vegas.

The latest threat to television and radio stations was sent to station managers on July 10 by national Republican congressional chairman Bill Paxton, R-N.Y. The letter contains deceptive and groundless threats that members of Congress will sue stations for liability if they continue to air a new AFL-CIO advertisement titled "Wither."

The ad highlights the deepest cuts in Medicare proposed by Gingrich and other Republican leaders of Congress. The ad is part of the AFL-CIO's continuing effort to educate working families about how Congress is performing on issues that affect their lives. Our ads are well documented and have been extremely effective in exposing the votes made by members of Congress to cut Medicare and other programs important to working families.

The leadership in Congress has opposed an increase in the minimum wage, has attempted to repeal the Davis-Bacon Prevailing Wage Act for construction workers and is attempting to eliminate overtime for more than eight hours a day and 40 hours a week. They have attempted to weaken the OSHA enforcement of our workplace and have attempted to rob the pension plans of America's workers.

We are also showing the votes of Rep. John Ensign, R-Nevada, where he has supported and voted for Gingrich's Contract with America. The AFL-CIO ads have criticized the leadership for voting to cut Medicare and other vital programs to pay for a big tax cut for corporations and the rich. The Republicans want you to think that the main beneficiaries of their tax cuts will be working Americans. Here are the facts. Decide for yourself.

When half the benefits from the Republicans' $245 billion tax cut would go to taxpayers with incomes of $100,000 per year and up, we say that is a tax cut for the rich.

When the richest 1 percent of taxpayers, those with annual incomes of more than $350,000, would receive 17 percent of the total tax cut worth an average of $8,500 to each of them, then we say it is a tax cut for the rich.

When the centerpiece of the Republican tax cut is a deep cut in capital gains tax, two-thirds of which would accrue to the richest 1 percent of the population, that is a tax cut for the rich.

When Republicans vote to cut inheritance taxes by $25 billion for the exclusive benefit to 30,000 big estates each year that will receive a tax cut averaging more than $80,000, that is, without question, a tax cut for the rich.

When more than half of all taxpayers with incomes less than $30,000, including millions of working families, would see a tax increase on the Republican tax cut, that is certainly not a tax cut for working people.

When Republicans vote to virtually eliminate the corporative alternative of minimum tax, AMT, at a seven-year cost to the treasury of $16 billion, that is a tax cut for corporations, not working America. The facts are clear, the Republican leadership seeks to cut Medicare and other vital programs so they can pay for a big tax cut for corporations and the very rich.

The Team Act that the leadership proposed, currently before Congress, is nothing but a union-busting anti-worker piece of legislation that will allow the old-time company unions to flourish and weaken the true collective bargaining process.

Under the terms of the Team Act, a company could appoint the workers' representative, and the workers' representative would be under the direct control of management. This is not democracy nor is it good for the workers of America.

The AFL-CIO will continue television ads to enlighten the citizens of Nevada and the nation. In a national survey of AFL-CIO members conducted in March, the Peter Hart Research Group found that more than seven in 10 -- 71 percent -- of union members felt it was very important for labor unions to be involved in national issues and politics and to support candidates for office who are pro-union and pro-worker. We certainly intend to follow their wishes in Nevada.

The AFL-CIO effort on television ads can be fairly and accurately described as a voter-education campaign that focuses on providing information to union members and other workers about how various members of Congress have voted on key legislative issues. It is not true that all of the funding comes from mandatory dues or that all of the advertising is negative and caricature. The often-quoted $35 million will not come from increased dues to the members, but from the international unions out of their current income.

By majorities of 80 percent, union members also said the president should reject any budget that included congressional provisions to cut Medicare, reduce federal support for public education, cut Medicare spending, give tax breaks to corporations and the wealthy or cut student loans. So while it is true that union members and the general public support a balanced budget in theory, they also oppose spending cuts and tax breaks proposed by the leadership in Congress.

We in the Nevada State AFL-CIO will continue to keep our members in the general public informed of legislation that may be detrimental or beneficial to the workers of our state.